ã€ŠFirst Draft - Reincarnated Into a Game in Impossible Mode? (RIGIM)ã€‹


 Chapter 1: Did I Just Reincarnate Into A Hardcore Game?

    How do I say this?

    I''m finding things to be quite confusing at the moment.

    To sum it up... I reincarnated into a game that I''ve been playing for the better part of 6 years.

    Sounds pretty weird, right? Believe me, I was as surprised as you guys.

    A little information about myself.

    My name is Amemiya Ryoshu, I will be 22 years old this year.

    Right now, no, rather than before I reincarnated, I was unemployed.

    I have no high school diploma, no decent job, and no close friends at all.

    And... yeah, my girlfriend has left me for a better man.

    Totally original and not a clich¨¦, right?

    Jokes aside, my parents... passed away when I was just a little kid.

    And I only have a younger sister, but she detested me as hell though.

    I dropped out of high school because my relatives told me they couldn''t support my sister and me to go to school anymore.

    But I had been shamelessly begging my relatives for my sister to stay at their house.

    And in the meantime, I promised I would go out and make a living to pay for my sister''s education fees.

    I was very desperate and always looking for ways to make a lot of money.

    Working part-time is not a terrible option, but the salary is not enough to pay for our cost of living, let alone my sister''s education.

    But I don''t have too many choices either as I don''t have a high school degree.

    I went everywhere to apply for a job, but no one ever accepted. They even kicked me out of their store the moment they saw me.

    But until one day.

    That day was the most significant turning point in my life, and I still remember it vividly.

    That day was the day that the game ''Rainfall Disorder'' was first released to the public.

    It''s the number-one game in the entire world.

    Rainfall Disorder, an open-world 3D RPG game, is set in a modern world combined with common fantasy elements.

    Players will have to become as strong as possible with their companions. Not only that, but they also have to defeat dungeons and villains along the main storyline.

    Yet, the highlight of this game is the near-accurate simulation.

    The Player can interact with each NPC with their unique personality and appearance.

    The cutting-edge combat mechanism, along with daily life systems at the academy.

    You can do all such as studying, practicing, and communicating.

    The NPCs here are all very soulful, from the character design to their AI.

    And especially, they only have one freaking life.

    Once they die, they will actually die forever and will not reappear in that save file. Thus, their death will actually have a tremendous impact on the storyline.

    Rainfall Disorder is an open-world game. Thus, Players have dozens of things to do, and hundreds of places where they can enjoy the scenery.

    They can do whatever they like.

    Joining the main characters, dropping out of the academy to be a mercenary or even being a villain.

    Every Player will have the same ending no matter what.

    That is because of an inevitable world-class disaster called the Flood Myth.

    Everyone will die, regardless of race, strength, or talent.

    That is why Rainfall Disorder is considered an absurdly hard game.

    Only 2 years after being released, this game was completed by the most famous Player in the world.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    During that time, a lot of patches and content updates were still published. Thus making the game a bit more balanced.

    4 years after the game was cleared for the first time, the game is still very popular because of its active fanbase on various forum pages.

    The game has so much content so speedrun tactics are becoming more and more popular.

    New exploiting bugs in the game or tactics will be found and can affect the speedrun in the game.

    And in most new playthroughs, Players can always find something new. Thus, every day the online community finds more bugs or shortcuts.

    From there, newly found speedrun tactics are shortening the world record.

    And I take pride in being the pioneer of this famous game all over the world.

    I''ve been a Streamer since the early days of the game''s release and that was also my golden time too. The number of viewers and subscribers is also among the top in the streamer world of the game.

    It was because of Rainfall Disorder that I could solve my financial problems and my sister could study her favorite career.

    My relationship with other Streamers and the surrounding people has also become much better.

    I even found a lovely, adorable girlfriend, who is also a Content Creator whom I have met in a game event. It was love at first sight for me.

    And besides, I''m a veteran at the Speedrun community too.

    Although I''m not the best one, I''ve contributed a lot of shortcuts that can save almost 10% of world record time.

    Even though I love the game so much, I can never stand on the top of the speedrunning community because of my slow hands and poor reflexes.

    Despite my best efforts, I''m just an average player with the nickname "Pioneer" and my popularity is declining.

    And as time passed, I became inferior compared to other young Streamers in terms of knowledge and skills.

    So I eventually had to become a Content Creator and create videos about games.

    As a result, I am not taken too seriously in the gaming world. I am only vaguely known by the name of the bugs or shortcuts that I discovered by myself.

    Fortunately, I have never been involved in any kind of drama or scandal, so that can also be seen as a positive side.

    But that is also the only positive thing.

    The entire society respected the top players because of their gaming talent.

    And especially after Rainfall Disorder announced that its VR version was coming soon, they took to becoming rich like a duck to water.

    Businesses grabbed the opportunity right away. They rushed to invest money in hiring top players to maximize profits and social attention.

    But I was still at the same place, or rather I was falling even more than before.

    My loyal viewers for years had left my channel to follow other better ones.

    At first, my view count was still stable from 50 thousand to 100 thousand, sometimes it went up to about 1 million.

    Later it was only somewhere between 1 thousand and 5 thousand, but the level of decrease has not shown signs of stopping.

    The amount of money I earned was getting less and less and it was almost not enough to pay rent.

    Fortunately, I have a sister, so I could sometimes ask for money.

    Though it''s so pathetic, I had no other choices.

    I even tried to make a website to buy and sell game accounts and open a game service to pay rent.

    But no matter how hard I tried, I still couldn''t make enough money so eventually I had to sell my house to live in a cheap apartment in the suburban town.

    Even my girlfriend, whom I have loved for over 5 years, has left me for another man.

    "I''m sorry, but I don''t want to be poor like this forever." - She said that a few weeks ago.

    I was really shocked but... I always thought the day she left me would be way sooner.

    My girlfriend was always a cheerful and nice person, but she didn''t want to go through the hardships and poverty again.

    But she was not the one responsible for our break-up.

    I was the one ruining the relationship. Everything was because I was poor and uninteresting.

    Even though I had predicted she would break up with me, eventually.

    It''s still pretty heartbreaking that the person who always has cared and been there for me with the utmost care, regardless of difficulties in my life,

    And in the end, she still could not bear the poverty and left me alone.

    And even though I was so depressed, I didn''t have anyone to talk to either since I spent too much time focusing on developing my career.

    Thus, now I don''t even have someone that I can call a friend.

    There''s still a week left before the game launches the VR version, but I cannot even afford a machine to play, let alone buy the game.

    A new long-awaited VR version of Rainfall Disorder will soon replace the old one in the hearts of hundreds of millions of fans.

    Although I feel terrible for what happened to me in the past, I thought that this was the time to forget all the past and change myself.

    All the bad things from not being recognized by others, my parents died early to my younger sister now having her own job and concerns.

    I don''t want to bother my sister anymore. I will stand up on my own and be successful one day.

    I will try to forget my girlfriend, who had left me to follow other top players.

    But seriously, I think it is kind of ironic.

    It was Rainfall Disorder that gave me everything, and now it has taken all those things from me.

    What a cruel world that we live in.

    But even after all those misfortunate things, I still could not hate the game at all.

    I love that game a lot, not because it financially assists me, but because every time I play it, it gives me some peace of mind.

    So I think I will play one final playthrough.

    Just because I would like to experience the initial feeling when playing this game for the first time.

    I love the idea of communicating and befriending the NPCs in Rainfall Disorder like in the good old days.

    ''And this time, I won''t use any game errors to skip anymore, so I''m going to enjoy it to the fullest.''

    After a few nights, I could finally complete the game yet another time.

    It made me feel pretty nostalgic.

    And after that...

    There is no such thing after that.

    When I woke up, I was in a completely unfamiliar room.

    I was just like a normal person at first.

    I tried to look around the room and then look through the windows.

    What caught my eye was the whole super modern city as if I had arrived in the city of the far future.

    But... There is a catch. A pretty interesting one.

    "Why is this city so familiar¡­"

    A message suddenly rang and popped up on my wristwatch.

    "What ?is this?"

    Suddenly, the message from the watch floated in front of me.

    I squinted my eyes and read the large text in the middle of the floating announcement.

    "Invitation letter for admission to Spiral Academy..."

    Oh, that''s what it is.

    "Spiral Academy, huh?"

    I looked at the city outside and noticed one little thing.

    "Yeah, I''m genuinely screwed up."

 Chapter 2: Day One In Another World

    (Day 1)

    7.45 A.M.

    I''m still trying to organize my thoughts about what just happened.

    I did not know how, or what the hell brought me to the world of Rainfall Disorder.

    ''I think it''s because... I reincarnated into this world?''

    But the last time I remember, I was still in the house. How could a truck hit me?

    ''Or... was it because I suffered a stroke?''

    I think that theory is also quite reasonable because I was too lazy to exercise and I had a very unhealthy diet too.

    And I think that after a few days of staying up all night playing Rainfall Disorder.

    Even so, having a stroke at 22 makes little sense...

    I also thought about the case where I fell into the space-time rift and got here. But when I look in the mirror, all I see is a completely unfamiliar face.

    "System?"

    "Status Bar?"

    Still, no mechanical sounds or windows appeared.

    This is strange indeed.

    "So I''m not a Player?"

    If that is the case, the system must immediately appear to assist and guide the Player.

    What is more? I also don''t belong to any of the main cast in the game either.

    Because my appearance is very unfamiliar and not as handsome as the main characters.

    Maybe I''m an extra...

    ''Oh no, not the extra, please.''

    Rainfall Disorder has a pretty cool feature named Extra NPCs Randomized System.

    To put it simply, it will randomly generate the extra NPCs. Even their names, races, status, appearance, and personalities are random to increase replayability.

    So I''m 100% sure that I''m an extra.

    Now that is a clich¨¦!

    Jokes aside.

    There''s one thing I''ve been wondering about for a while now.

    ''Could anyone tell me why this house is so freaking empty?''

    I even went around the so-called "house".

    Only then did I figure it out.

    "I live alone in this tiny flat."

    The flat only has 3 rooms: bedroom, bathroom and living room... which is below average.

    The room was quite dirty and almost devoid of furniture except for an ordinary steel sword lying down in the middle of the bedroom.

    My previous character must have been a swordsman, a poor of which.

    I guess he is also an orphan.

    Totally an original idea, isn''t it?

    Well, whatever. I should stop scrutinizing and insulting...

    Because I''m not much different from him... except that I''m even older than him and even poorer than him...

    Sigh. What should I do from now on?

    Reincarnating to this world is possibly the worst choice ever.

    ''I don''t know what I want to do, but I... know one thing for certain.''

    ''I want to survive.''

    I don''t want to die like a pathetic loser... again.

    ''I could use some speedrunning strategies to save time coming up with a plan.''

    Now I really need to see my status bar.

    Since without knowing my stats, I cannot make a good plan for the future.

    Fortunately, although not as detailed as the Player''s System, anyone can view their stats via their wristwatch,

    ''I almost forgot that. I think I should write some important information down just in case.''

    I struggled to find the indicator on the watch.

    "Oh, it''s showing up."

    A window appeared in front of my eyes, just like when the Letter of Admission appeared.

    "Then the first line will be my name."

    [Name: Amemura Ryoshu]

    This is my Rainfall Disorder account name, right? Why did they choose this name instead of my real name?

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Interesting indeed.

    I will figure it out at another time. Now I should focus on other things.

    The next line will be my stats.

    The first one is the most important stat.

    [Mana: (Null)]

    "Sigh. I knew it."

    When a Player creates a character, sometimes they will have no [Mana] at all.

    [Mana] for some is probably not the most important factor.

    But if I want to finish this game, Mana is undeniably one of the most indispensable stats. It helps the Player enhance all aspects of combat, whether the Player uses any weapon or none.

    Players will see the differences between having Mana compared to not having Mana in the long run.

    There were a lot of speedrunners who couldn''t stand creating characters without Mana, so most of them had to delete characters and start over again.

    And which, I don''t have that option.

    Fortunately, there are several ways to overcome this problem. The first is to use resources that are both expensive and slow to grow.

    The second way is to exploit bugs and glitches, but...

    ''I am not a Player''

    That''s the biggest problem with me because only the Player can exploit bugs in the game, right?

    This will affect my plans because almost every speedrun strategy will exploit major glitches.

    So if I can''t take advantage of game errors, then the percentage of finishing the game or surviving in this world will be significantly reduced.

    However, I''m not sure yet.

    ''I have to try it to find out.''

    The second thing, which has equal importance, is the [Main Stat].

    [Strength (F-)

    Endurance (F-)

    Agility (F-)

    Perception (F-)]

    With such lousy stats, I am ?just slightly above the average person and not very strong even when compared to other kids of this age.

    Usually, those kids will be at the top of rank F and the beginning of rank E, so my character is just a toddler here.

    Sigh.

    Fortunately, these stats are stats that can easily be raised through practice.

    No matter how bad things are, hard work can make up for it.

    For the time being, I will ignore that problem and deal with it later.

    Let''s move on to [Secondary Stats] now.

    [Charisma (Unranked)

    Regeneration (F-)

    Intelligence (F+)]

    Great!

    Luckily, my character has a high enough [Intelligence]!

    One tip to play this game in the early phase is to buy passive skills to increase [Skill Experience].

    But those skills also have certain requirements. Like having an Intelligence stat of F+ or higher.

    "I have fulfilled the hardest condition!"

    "Now I need enough money."

    [Account balance: 100 RC.]

    Sigh.

    I didn''t expect to enter the game and still be too poor and ragged.

    100 RC is $100 in the real world.

    RC, short for Reunited Coin, is the official currency of humanity managed by the Reunited Corporation.

    It also requires at least 150 RC to buy those skills.

    "Hmmmm."

    I thought for a long time without coming up with an alternative.

    "Or¡­ do I need to go to the Black Market?"

    The [Black Market] is ?a place of illegal trading and buying without government approval.

    It often takes place in the trading of taboo items, such as drugs, body parts, etc.

    I don''t like those kinds of environments but it seems like I don''t have any choice here.

    And as I have previously mentioned, this game''s map is freaking huge.

    The game is related to the [Spiral Academy], but the game does not restrict the Player at all.

    You can still engage in the main storyline even though you don''t study at the [Spiral Academy].

    There are quite a few different choices, but Players usually choose 1 from 3 main paths in this game:

    First, cadets can be heroes through 3 years of studying at the academy and another 2 years of training at the Reunited corporation.

    Second, mercenaries: need to register at the Adventure Guild, do the mission, and slowly rank up there.

    Third, villain: join the Divider organization or do whatever you like.

    There are also many other forces that the Player can join or oppose, such as the Magic Council, World Tree Clan, and Underworld City.

    Back to the main point, now I''m going to the Black Market.

    ''I wonder if I forgot something?''

    * *

    9.00 A.M.

    After a while of struggling to walk to that place through the navigation software on the watch.

    Why do I walk?

    ''...''

    I walked to save my precious RC, okay?

    I''ll fix this financial problem in the future, but for now, I have to be strong enough to enter the academy without getting kicked out.

    At Spiral Academy, they gave cadets sufficient money for food and other needs.

    Although it has a dormitory, the school ensures students have more choices and feel comfortable as much as they can. That''s why I said these academies are stupidly rich...

    "Oh, I come to the right place"

    After thinking about the plan while walking, I came to a small bar called Angels'' Whiskey.

    That place is one of the main branches to get to the place where the Black Market takes place.

    I had already dressed at my "home" in a discreet outfit to hide my identity.

    I put on a hoodie, put my hands in my pockets, and started walking into the bar.

    When I entered the bar, everyone was looking at me with eyes that probed for my identity.

    I have to admit that I''m also a little shaken in front of others'' eyes, but I have to pretend that I''m very calm.

    My teacher used to say "Fake it until you make it".

    I gently walked over and sat down on a nearby chair.

    The waiter, wiping the glass, looked at me and asked.

    "What would you like to drink?"

    "I would like a glass of [Joel''s Madam]"

    "¡­"

    "Please wait a moment"

    So the password is still active. Fortunately, it had not changed by the time I arrived.

    The server, holding a glass bottle of wine, poured a glass and asked again.

    "Do you want to use something else?"

    Now that''s easy, a plate of [Sweet and Sour Dragon Ribs], right?

    "A plate of [Sweet and Sour Dragon Ribs]"

    "Sorry customer, they are out of stock today"

    ''Oh! Damn it, am I wrong?''

    It''s been a long time since I''ve been to this place in the game, so now these codes are all messed up in my mind.

    Now, if I say one more wrong sentence, they will kick me out of the bar.

    ''Hurry! Say something else!''

    "No problem"

    Ah, remember, it''s that password!

    "How about a plate of [Mapo Tofu]?"

    ''Please don''t be wrong again! Please!''

    "... Will you pay directly or use a bank account?"

    In my heart, I breathed a sigh of relief.

    "Direct payment."

    The server waved, and another server came and bowed to me.

    "Then, sir, please follow me."

    I stood up and followed the waitress, who had just arrived.

    After walking for a while in the corridor, the girl stopped and opened the door nearby.

    "Please come into this room."

    I entered the room, unfazed.

    "Have a wonderful trip, sir."

    And those were the last words I heard.

    * *

    9.30 A.M.

    Everything suddenly became quiet. Maybe this is the teleportation process.

    I thought it would only take a few seconds, but I think the game developers simplify everything in the game quite a lot.

    As soon as I finished teleporting, I heard the noise from the crowd.

    When I opened my eyes, a whole slum appeared in front of my eyes, customers passing through each other like a flood. They were all walking without chatting.

    ''This place is so freaking gloomy.''

    It made me feel so dangerous that I could not breathe properly.

    Huff.

    ''I need to hurry.''

    While searching hurriedly for the skill shop, I came across a stall selling some pretty weird jewelry.

    ''Oh, there was a pretty nice mask, though.''

    It is really appealing, to be honest.

    I bent down to pick the mask up and asked an elderly saleswoman.

    "Grandma, how much is this mask?"

    "That''s 5 RC, kid."

    "Yes, here you are, grandma."

    I put on the mask, which somehow makes me feel quite comfortable and secure, because it hides all parts of my face.

    After that, I went as planned.

    While I was window shopping, someone suddenly grabbed my neck from behind.

    "Oh, how familiar this mask looks, right? You little rat?" - A hoarse voice shouted right at my ears.

    A short old man was grabbing me by the neck and he was brutally dragging me through the crowd.

    Lots of people looked at me.

    ''Woah, I feel embarrassed as hell right now.''

    ''At least I still have the mask on my face.''

    But wait, why does he look so familiar?

 Chapter 3: Lucky Encounters?

    "So that damn grandma stole my items again!?"

    He sighed and seemed speechless.

    "Sorry for dragging you all the way to my store."

    "You''re not the one to blame anyways."

    "It''s okay, sir."

    "My name is Enomoto Atsuta."

    !!

    ''What kind of luck is this?''

    Enomoto Atsuta is one of the most important characters you''ll need if you want a weapon to last.

    He is someone who can forge weapons that grow with the user. In the main storyline, he made the famous Kusanagi sword and helped create Excalibur with other legendary blacksmiths.

    Oh, and in the game, he is kinda big-headed and bad-tempered, so I didn''t expect him to apologize to me like that.

    "I am Amemura Ryoshu, a first-year student at Spiral Academy."

    He looked at me.

    But for now, let''s just buy the ones I prioritize.

    "Is there anything special about this mask, sir?"

    "It can partially conceal the existence of its user by infusing Mana into it."

    Then, he took the mask and put it on his face.

    "Like this."

    Suddenly I don''t see him anywhere? Huh, no, he''s still standing in front of me? I''m not sure.

    ''That mask is a good item.''

    I have a few ideas on how to take advantage of that function.

    "I was in the middle of making this hat when I realized it was gone."

    "Damn that grandma!"

    This must be the new story-related additions to the game.

    "Do you sell skill books, sir?"

    "Oh yes, what skills do you need?"

    "Do you know the skills [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes]?"

    Both skills are seemingly useless and are almost only useful in other fields.

    But I''ve played long enough to know that these two skills are essential for me in the future.

    "Hmmm, [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes]?"

    "I''m too old, so I''m absent-minded, let me go to the warehouse and try to find it"

    Well, he''s already over a thousand years old, so he''s indeed kinda old and forgetful.

    "Okay, I will wait here."

    "But do you have enough money?"

    "Umm, I think I only have about 100 RC"

    "Hmm, that''s not enough, kiddo"

    I knew it wouldn''t be enough.

    In Rainfall Disorder, there are 2 ways to learn new skills:

    One, it''s also the hardest way, but it''s free - practice.

    Repeating one certain action creates new skills.

    But if there is a teacher to instruct and guide you, it will initialize the skills more quickly and level up faster.

    The second way is to use skill books.

    We can buy basic books in bookstores, but the price is also expensive because we can only get skill books in dungeons.

    However, I also know another way, which is also the reason I came to the black market.

    "How about [Memory Orb]s?"

    Yes, that is the trading of memories.

    By using Memory Manipulation magic to transfer a portion of one''s memories to another, new skills could be learned.

    However, Memory Manipulation is a banned magic because of the danger it poses to the users.

    In return, the price of a [Memory Orb] will be much cheaper since it can only be used once only.

    "..."

    He looked at me for quite a while. And he sighed again.

    "I do"

    "Follow me"

    We went down to the hidden basement. If it weren''t for the lanterns hanging everywhere, I would have barely seen anything.

    Mr. Enomoto reached out to a secret wall and pushed the lever down.

    The wall next to it instantly split apart with the sounds of metal shards moving and colliding with each other.

    Inside is a hidden warehouse where Enomoto also hides his special items in the game.

    He goes in and then takes out 2 blue balls. The two orbs showed up and off continuously, making it pretty difficult to see.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "These two cost ?105 RC"

    "I only have 95 RC now"

    Atsuta was standing there, looking at me astonished.

    "How about?.."

    He thought deeply and began murmuring.

    "You owe me a deal and you can have your items?"

    "In return, I will not take even a dime from ya, kiddo"

    Here it is, the hidden quest in the game.

    "Can''t believe I just did that."

    He murmured silently.

    "Deal?"

    Despite that, those two items are too cheap compared to my freaking life.

    "Okay, but I want to add more conditions."

    "..."

    He began grumbling silently, but I knew it all.

    "What is that?"

    "I just need some basic ingredients."

    "One .."

    "I don''t understand why you need those things."

    "But... since it''s pretty cheap, I can accept your conditions."

    He stored all the materials that I needed in a storage ring.

    Storage devices can store a lot of things in another dimension.

    The more it costs, the more space it has.

    ''You get what you pay for.''

    But it''s too convenient and easy-to-use to miss buying it.

    "Besides that, what else do you need?"

    Hmm, should I expose his identity?

    "Yeah, I should have a weapon anyways."

    "I would like to borrow a weapon from you."

    "Legendary blacksmith - Enomoto Atsuta."

    "Who... who are you?"

    I kept carrying on my monologue as if he hadn''t asked.

    "I see these weapons are forged in a very meticulous and elaborate way."

    "I can even see the souls in your crafted weapons."

    I touched a random sword hanging on the wall and looked at him.

    He seemed speechless again.

    "..."

    "You are absolutely right."

    I defeated him.

    "But I can lend you the weapon."

    That''s all. I have achieved my purposes, old man.

    "That''s what I meant."

    "So, which weapon do you want?"

    I thought a lot about different weapons, but I still haven''t chosen a certain weapon.

    Hmm, how about [Sword]? It''s also not a bad idea since I know quite a few powerful swordsmanship in the game anyways. However, I don''t actually know how to deal with close combat.

    [Magic wand]? Even though the amount of Mana I have in my body is now zero, I can fix that pretty easily. However, being a mage might be awkward for someone who likes mobility like me.

    [Spear]? Well, close combat is not my forte, so again no.

    I just walked over and looked at every single weapon here.

    Some of them are items in the game, but there are some fresh faces too.

    And suddenly I saw a bow with a pretty design, but maybe it''s not finished yet?

    ''A bow is also quite reasonable.''

    I picked up that bow.

    However, I don''t know how good it is since I don''t have a System to appraise its stats.

    "[Formless Bow]." - Atsuta snapped something.

    "Huh?"

    "This is a craft that my friend did in the past."

    "But he only finished half of it and he got bored."

    "Haha. Then he just threw it at me."

    He looked at it, and he seemed sad.

    A bow not in the game? Should I be an archer this time?

    I don''t have any combat experience anyway, so it''s more effective to attack from a distance, right?

    And a bow can be quite flexible and mobile.

    But also, learning how to handle and shoot an arrow properly... It is not a simple task either.

    "Have you decided yet?"

    "¡­"

    ''Okay, why think too much? I''ll be an archer this time.''

    I was walking towards the old man when I tripped over something.

    I almost fell.

    ''I should be more careful.''

    ''But what did I stumble on?''

    I hold what I just tripped over.

    ''Is that an iron chain?''

    ''Why is it in this hidden room?'' - I pulled it out from the cluster of weapons in the room but it stuck.

    I put in more force to pull it out.

    Suddenly I could pull it out, and at the same time, a sharp knife flew towards me.

    It almost touched my eyeball.

    Schwing!

    The knife popped out and fell to the floor.

    It was only when my heart sank that I realized that the old man had just saved me.

    "Do you know how to hold a weapon?"

    "Huh?"

    "Can''t believe that I believed in this kiddo." - He started murmuring yet another time.

    His personality may have developed to be like a traditional elderly.

    "It''s a rather uncommon weapon these days."

    He went over there and picked up the chain.

    The blade attached to the end of the chain almost killed me.

    He took the chain and started dancing with it.

    The blade flew around him like some kind of magic.

    "This is a Dart Rope."

    He continued these martial arts while mumbling.

    "A powerful and dangerous weapon in the right hands."

    After saying that, he manipulated the blade so that it hit the wall.

    But instead of bouncing out like I expected, the blade pierced through the wall and cracked the surrounding wall.

    ''What the hell?''

    How can that blade be so sharp like that?

    "Although this weapon is both powerful at close range and long range and is mobile, it is difficult to use and it has no martial arts that are too strong to combine with it."

    However, I found it to have an unusual attraction.

    "Old man... Can I borrow both of your weapons?"

    "Don''t call me old."

    "This chain I give you is just fine because it has nothing special about it."

    "It is just the weapon I made for practicing purposes."

    "And that bow is not even a perfect bow."

    "Plus, what I want you to do is also difficult, so I would feel quite embarrassed when I give you something that is not half as good as the other ones."

    "So I give both of them to you."

    "Don''t pay it back though."

    "But old man, that-"

    "Don''t change my mind! And don''t call me old man again."

    "Take them away and give me your phone number."

    "When I need you, you must come right away!"

    "Yes!"

    Great! At first, I was only going to get 2 skills [Good Memory] and [Fast Reflexes].

    On this trip, I have "bought" additional items.

    I have gained a decent amount of materials and even 2 medium-quality weapons.

    Not only that, I still preserved my precious money for other things.

    And most importantly, I found and got acquainted with the legendary blacksmith, Enomoto Atsuta.

    ''What a pleasant start.''

    He unexpectedly gave me some scrolls.

    "You can get out of this place by this."

    "Just to be safe."

    "I don''t wanna waste money just like that, kiddo."

    It turned out to be a teleport scroll, which can only be used once, so the price is quite cheap.

    It''s cheap, but that is when compared to a freaking portal. At least it must be more than a thousand RC.

    I write where I want to go on the paper.

    At first, I was going to go home to test the bug, but I didn''t know the address of my house.

    ''Damnit, no wonder I thought I kept forgetting something.''

    After thinking for a while, I thought of another idea! It even saves a lot of my time and money, right?

    "Thank you very much! Goodbye, old man!"

    "Do not call me old man."

    He sighed again, but after that, he grinned a bit.

    "Be careful and remember what I said"

    "Okay, I "will" remember."

    I took the [Good Memory] orb and showed it in front of him.

    "Will?"

    "You know what I mean, right?"

    I shook the item in my hand.

    "No."

    I rolled my eyes and stored it inside of the space ring.

    "I''m just kidding... Whatever. See you soon."

    "Old man."

    "Hey, call me by my freakin-"

    Then, I started tearing the paper apart.

    Magical characters from the void appeared and circled around my body.

    * *

    1:20 P.M.

    And right after that, I was already standing in front of a gate of a Temple.

    Roughly, the Temple is the place where Players will fight monsters, and overcome challenges to receive rewards and experience to level up faster.

    But since I''m not a Player, there''s no such thing as a level.

    In return, anyone can receive the reward of a Temple.

    Earlier I wrote the location of this Hidden Temple down.

    This place can do a lot of different bugs.

    First, I will have to have these 2 [Memory Orb] interact with the Temple gate.

    After rubbing the two orbs against the gate for a while, something I didn''t expect happened.

    == [Detected an error!] ==

    == [Review: it can seriously affect the World!] ==

    == [Initiate the debugging process immediately!] ==

    Is the System talking about me?

    == [The bug has been completely annihilated!] ==

    ''What?''

    [The system has detected an entity that does not belong to this world.

    What the hell is happening?

    == [Unable to access this particular instance''s information!] ==

    [...]

    I feel like someone is looking directly at me.

    == [You have been given a new Authority "System"!] ==

    == [From now on you have access to a small portion of the Player World System] ==

    ''Isn''t that great? So I''ve partially become a Player now?''

    But still, I feel like there''s something not quite right about that thing called the System.

    It feels more like a being than a normal machine...

    It''s nothing but a higher being though.

    "Stop thinking too much, now I have to focus on my work."

    "Status Bar."

    == [Your information has been added to the World Data] ==

 Chapter 4: The Hidden Temple

    [Amemura Ryoshu] (Human)

    * Status Bar *

    [Mana: (Null)]

    -Main Stats

    [Strength 12.25 (F-)

    Endurance 11 (F-)

    Agility 11.5 (F-)

    Perception 15.3 (F)]

    -Secondary Stats

    [Charisma 10 (Unranked)

    Regeneration 10.15 (F-)

    Intelligence 18.8 (F+)]

    Sigh.

    Looking at the numerical stats, I saw how pathetic my character is.

    Other than the average [Perception] and [Intelligence] stats, the other stats are close to that of a normal adult.

    The [Charisma] stat can be said to be quite high compared to that of an average person.

    Because this is the stat that shows the beauty that is almost the highest in the era before there was a war against the monsters behind the gates of the Temple.

    Temple Invasion - also known as World War III by most of the people in this world.

    In summary, Elves and Dwarves assisted humans in learning to use supernatural powers to suppress all the monsters and bring peace to the world.

    And afterward, there was a period of modern technology with the newfound resources - Mana.

    Now Mana has surrounded our entire Earth, making it a great place to cultivate.

    An easy rule to remember how stats work is:

    Except for 0, which is (Null), only applies to [Mana]. So don''t take that 0 because it will rarely appear again in the future.

    All the other stats will range from 1 to 100.

    Starting from Unranked, varying from 1 to 10.

    Every 10 units increase will improve by 1 rank:

    [11 ¡ú 20 is rank F,

    21 ¡ú 30 is rank E,

    ...,

    81 ¡ú 90 is rank SS,

    91 ¡ú 100 is rank SSS.]

    You don''t have to remember all of this, though.

    Since you just need to know your rank, you can always check it with your watch or go to the nearest Adventure Guild to check.

    The stats detectors also provide something more than just their rank.

    It will have the additional minus sign (-), plus sign (+), or nothing at all. It is used to determine what stage of the rank you are: early, mid, or peak rank.

    Below 4 is early, above 7 is the peak, and between those milestones is... yeah mid.

    For example, if my [Strength] stat is 12.25, it can be immediately understood that it is at rank F-, similar to other stats like [Perception] or [Intelligence] which are rank F (15.3) and rank F+ (18.8), respectively.

    The [Charisma] stat is 10, which is average in modern society.

    From rank F to D, there is a potential to be a model.

    From C to B are the average idols like before the war.

    And from rank A to S are among the movie stars of this world.

    But from S and above is an indescribable beauty, and it is extremely rare.

    Only legendary monsters in history can have such a high stat.

    A bit more about the [Charisma] stat in Spiral Academy, every single student is 20 or above.

    ''But 20 is the lowest level in the academy, only 30 or above is the standard.''

    And the highest is 69 (no intention though), which includes nobles or princesses like some of the main characters.

    For example, my old crush in this game, Katia, already has a very high stat at 60 when she is just a first-year cadet.

    But I should ignore the status problem now since almost any stat can be improved in one or multiple ways.

    Now I''ll look at [Status Bar]

    [* Trait *

    * Technique *

    * Potential *

    [Swordsmanship] (F-)

    -Stab (Lv.1)

    * Talent *]

    So it''s true that this character of mine is a real swordsman as he has the potential [Swordsmanship].

    Even though his rank is so low that he only has one skill - [Stab].

    ----Potential----

    [Swordsmanship] (F-)

    Description: You are a beginner in using swords.

    -Stab (Lv.1)

    When active, the first close-range hit consumes "Stamina" and increases the "Critical Rate" by 5%.

    ----------

    [Stab] - A fairly basic skill for beginners too...

    But an increase in [Critical Rate] is still too good to skip.

    Since a [Critical Hit] can multiply that damage by at least two folds.

    All right, let''s see what I''ve collected at that old man''s place.

    ----Equipments----

    [Hidden Mask] (D+)

    Description: Crafted by a Legendary Blacksmith!

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    -Gorgeous

    Increases the "Charisma" stat by 5 units when equipped.

    -Hidden

    When you infuse Mana into the mask, the User erases a portion of your existence.

    -??

    -??

    --------

    Just like the old man Atsuta said, the mask on my hand can help me hide when infused with Mana...

    But yeah, I don''t have Mana yet so this function is temporarily useless.

    ''Oh, but other than that, I can become more beautiful when I put on a mask, a pretty good function, and... not one but two hidden functions?''

    Can''t the System analyze it?

    "Appraisal."

    [The level of Authority "System" is too low to fully appraise this item!]

    ''Wait? Do I have an [Authority]?''

    ''That''s new.''

    "System, what is my Authority?"

    ----Authority----

    [System] (Lv.1)

    Description: given by ??????

    -Status Bar (Lv.1)

    ????????

    -Appraisal (Lv.1)

    ????????

    ----------

    "It cannot even appraise itself."

    Can [System] be considered as an [Authority]? Perhaps it was because I am an NPC?

    Hmm, screw those useless thoughts.

    Now let''s check my weapons.

    ----Weapons----

    * [Formless Bow] (E-)

    Description: a fine bow crafted by a friend of the legendary blacksmith.

    -Retractable

    Can be retracted by infusing Mana.

    -Guard Break

    Super flexible bowstring makes every shot increase 5% "Attack Power" and 10% "Critical Rate".

    And if it is a "Critical Hit", it ignores 90% of the opponents'' "Defense".

    * [Iron Dart Rope] (F)

    Description: a string dart made of iron, crafted by the legendary blacksmith at a young age.

    --------

    Even though I couldn''t retract the bow yet, I could at least use the second function [Guard Break].

    So in case something wrong happened, I would still have a method to fight against it.

    Fortunately, I had asked for a few more arrows to shoot before I teleported.

    ----Items----

    [Wooden Arrow] x15 [F-]

    Description: made from cheap materials and has super weak destructive power.

    --------

    Atsuta said that if he gave away too many items, he would lose a lot of money.

    So he just gave me about a dozen low-quality arrows.

    "Well, beggars can''t be choosers."

    I looked at the last 2 items that have been upgraded just now.

    ----Items----

    * [Memory Orb] [Good Memory] (F-) ¡ú [Super Memory] (B-)

    (Potential ¡ú Talent)

    Description: Increase memorization ¡ú Memorize almost anything.

    -Nearly Cannot Forget (New!)

    Can remember almost everything the User has heard and seen.

    * [Memory Orb] [Fast Reflexes] (F-) ¡ú [Lightning Reflexes] (C)

    (Potential ¡ú Talent)

    Description: Accelerate reflexes ¡ú Reflexes develop beyond normal humans.

    -Sense Enhancement (New!)

    All 5 senses are beyond the human realm.

    -Death Sense (New!)

    The User can sense sudden death before it strikes, increasing the "Perception" stat by 20 points in 1.5 seconds.

    --------

    As expected, the first time using the bug will be the biggest upgrade.

    Since I''m currently in an A+ rank Hidden Temple, the energy released from the gate is very condensed and powerful.

    This bug will ?make the energy from the skill book or the memory orb upgrade via the energy coming from the gate.

    Now I''ll use the bug again to upgrade the two skills to the highest possible rank, A+.

    But I''ve been rubbing the two orbs against the gate for over 5 minutes now and it still doesn''t show any signs of upgrading at all.

    Wait a second.

    Perhaps!?

    Did it say that the bug was fixed??

    "Damnit! Damnit!"

    So... all bugs can only be used once?!

    At first, I was going to use bugs or glitches, but then I would become stronger, much much faster.

    And even most bosses would be nothing if I could use a bug continuously.

    But that [System] could fix bugs immediately ruined my entire strategy.

    ''If I had known this sooner, I would have gone to an SSS+ rank Temple in the first place...''

    Sigh.

    "Whatever needs to be done has been done. I couldn''t undo it anyways."

    "Those two skills will speed up my training process and [Lightning Reflexes] will also be very useful in any battle."

    Plus, I could upgrade all abilities in this game in several ways and with a lot of bugs. So that''s not the end of the world.

    ''I will take note to save some of the most important bugs and will make full use of them in the future.''

    But right now, I will absorb these two memory orbs and prepare to finish this Temple''s trial.

    ''Looks like they have to be swallowed, right?''

    Those two orbs looked disgusting.

    ''Jesus, hopefully, it has no taste at all.''

    Gulp.

    [Host has acquired 2 new talents "Super Memory" and "Lightning Reflexes".]

    Suddenly, all of my senses were boosted to the highest level. The surroundings suddenly became decelerated. My sensation was constantly being tickled, which slowly became a freaking pain.

    I knelt down and then lay pathetically.

    I tried moving my arm out in front of me and wiggling it back and forth.

    A strange feeling, as if I had just turned on rewind mode.

    ''This must be the aftereffect of [Lightning Reflexes].''

    And not only my senses but also my brain is working at full capacity. The old memories that were buried deep in my subconscious suddenly came back on the surface, as if I had just rewatched all of my experiences at once.

    I should have consumed each one every time, but now because of my naivety, both of them hurt me like hell.

    After "resting" for a while, my senses returned to normal. I think so.

    I breathed deeply to regain my consciousness and keep myself sane.

    Afterward, I went to the grass near the gate; I groped for a while to find something very important.

    I found some mushrooms with herbs that are quite useful for later.

    [Poisonous Mushroom], [Forgotten Grass], [Echidna Flower]...

    Weird, I remember those items showing up kinda clearly in the game, right?

    Or has the game changed its spawn location?

    "Oh!"

    "Here it is."

    "Appraisal."

    ----Items----

    * [Four-leaf Clover] (A)

    Description: Legend says that whoever finds it will be granted a wish.

    * [Seven-Year Ginseng] (A+)

    Description: Super rare, can make medicine or absorb directly.

    -Enhance

    When consumed, increase "Main Stats" by about 1 to 5 points.

    -Limit Break

    Removing impurities and increasing the ability of the consumer to "Absorb" Mana to rank A+.

    --------

    "Alright!"

    "Let''s go to my first dungeon in this world!"

    I spread my arms and opened the gate.

    A cave hidden deep in the ground was opened, the atmosphere around this place was very dark. On the wall hung torches to help adventurers see better.

    I''ve been to this place more than a hundred times in the game, but looking at it directly still gives me a fresh feeling.

    The challenge of this Temple is simply solving puzzles and avoiding traps but luckily I remember all the shortcuts and pitfalls.

    What I''m aiming for is the [Reward Chest] at the end of the challenge.

    Alright, I''ll get out of this dungeon soon, so I''ll take the time to explain some concepts from earlier.

    Maybe many people don''t know, but each character has a different power limit.

    And that thing humans call [Potential Limit], or according to the System, it is [Mana].

    So why do each of us have different limits?

    "Oh my god, I nearly forgot that sh-!"

    A sharp arrow shot abruptly from the wall, almost hitting him in the face.

    He took a dart with poison on the tip.

    ''This will be quite helpful.''

    All right, next.

    [Potential Limit] is directly based on the [Mana] stat to judge a person''s potential.

    [Mana] is the percentage of Mana in the air that we can [Absorb] and [Store] them into our body.

    For example, let''s just symbolize that our body is like a cup of water.

    [Absorb] will depend on the size of the mouth of the cup.

    [Store] will be the amount of water that the cup can hold.

    And at the moment, I don''t even have a cup.

    Mana Core is necessary for humans to store Mana because they cannot do it directly like other races or monsters.

    I clicked on a hidden button on the wall and a door suddenly appeared.

    This is the shortcut to complete the whole freaking trial. Now I just need to walk for a few more minutes, and then I''m done.

    I know it''s pretty lame, but shouldn''t we take advantage of everything?

    So next, what is the effect of the Ginseng root I found earlier?

    That''s the rest of the equation [Potential Limit] - [Absorb].

    Each person is born with a different Mana [Absorb] ability, some people are favored by Mana over others. And of course, it''s possible to improve [Absorb] by other means.

    Eating Ginseng will remove most of the impurities in the body to increase the efficiency of [Absorb] Mana more.

    So if I absorb this ginseng root, my "cup" will have a funnel attached to it.

    So despite having ZERO [Store] ability right now, I still can use Mana at lower efficiency.

    Even though both are very important, it is not possible to [Store] if you cannot [Absorb] Mana into the body.

    [Mana Core] not only stores Mana but also amplifies and transforms it, so don''t underestimate the [Store] ability.

    However, I am not in a hurry.

    Now I will consume ginseng root after using the next glitch at the end of this path.

    * *

    After a few dozen minutes of walking, I arrived at the end of the trial.

    If it was in the game, I would use the bug to increase the speed infinitely.

    However, it can only be used once, so I should save it for another sticky situation.

    When completing the trial, a gate will appear at the exit.

    And along with that, of course, there''s a [Reward Chest].

    I opened it, and a bunch of items appeared in front of my eyes.

    ----Reward Chest----

    [Gold Bar x5], [Protection Necklace (A+)], and [Extra Stat: Alteration].

    --------

    [Alteration: 1 (Unranked).]

    I went to stand in front of a statue near the end of the room.

    It has the shape of a huge creepy-looking eye.

    According to the game, this is the symbol of the God of fear - Phobos.

    I could have found another dungeon, but I have little choice, especially when I''m weak like this.

    Plus, I can do this bug on any statue.

    "Sigh. I hope I won''t regret what will happen next."

    I took the four-leaf clover I just picked up and began praying with a spell:

    "QWTYUIOPLKJHGFDSAZXCVNM."

    And then I tore that four-leaf clover and dropped exactly 3 leaves on top of the statue.

    [A new effect has occurred.]

    [All stat points are now temporarily stacked into a stat in only 1 minute.]

    I pressed on my newly added stat [Alteration].

    [Adding 89 stat points to the Extra Stat ''Alteration''!]

    [All other stats will temporarily change to 1 to keep the Host alive.]

    [Alteration: 1 ¡ú 90 (SS+).]

    Right after that, I took the remaining leaf and swallowed it.

    [Conditions have been fulfilled.]

    [Another additional effect has occurred!!]

 Chapter 5: Mana Core

    [Temporary Stats will officially become Host''s Stats!!!]

    [The Secondary Stat "Regeneration" due to the influence of the Extra Stat "Alteration" (SS+) has been added by 40 stat units]

    == [Detected an error!] ==

    == [Review: it can seriously affect the World!] ==

    == [Initiate the debugging process immediately!] ==

    == [The bug has been completely annihilated!] ==

    ''So it will delete all the bugs and glitches it witnesses?''

    Sigh.

    "Whatever"

    I put my hand in my pocket and took out the root of [Seven-Year Ginseng].

    ''Since coming to this world, I''ve eaten so many strange things and still can''t get used to it.''

    "I don''t know what it will taste like."

    Ugh.

    ''Wow, that''s bad.''

    Ginseng root has a bitter taste, so I should have cooked it.

    Next time I will cook... Definitely!

    I feel so disgusted as if I could vomit immediately, but if I throw up, it will be useless.

    A while after I put it in my mouth, I finally could swallow it completely.

    My tongue can still feel its disgusting bitterness, giving me goosebumps all over my body.

    But I felt like my body was getting much stronger.

    "Status Bar."

    I must check this first!

    [Mana: 35 (D).] (!)

    Let''s go!

    Many people will ask why I can''t get an A+ like the [Limit Break] written in the description.

    I clicked on the [Mana] line displayed on the status panel.

    Suddenly it expands to show full details.

    [Mana: 70 (A+) +0 (Null).]

    Since both factors of the equation are of equal importance, we will have a simple formula like this:

    [Mana: ("Absorb" + "Store")/2.]

    Even though it still can''t be stored in my body, that doesn''t matter!

    Now I can use Mana! The fact that I can absorb and use Mana is already a big win for me!

    And I could use the [Hidden] and [Retractable] functions of the [Hidden Mask] and the [Formless Bow] as well.

    Even compared to the [Potential Limit] (also known as Mana) of the main characters, rank D is nothing. Most of them have [Mana] ranked S or above.

    But their overall stat right now is just around rank E.

    All the main characters were born with silver spoons, some were even born with golden spoons like the two princesses in the main casts.

    They also had so many buffs while I had nothing in comparison.

    I guess that my only resources now are the information and the glitches of the game. However, financial and social status problems are really easy to fix.

    Sigh.

    Nevertheless, it''s so sad to think of.

    Hmm. Let''s just check the stats and go home then.

    "Status Bar."

    -Main Stats (!)

    [Strength: 12.25 (F-) ¡ú 6 (Unranked) (!)

    Endurance: 11 (F-) ¡ú 6 (Unranked) (!)

    Agility: 11.5 (F-) ¡ú 6 (Unranked) (!)

    Perception: 15.3 (F) ¡ú 6 (Unranked)] (!)

    -Secondary Stats (!)

    [Charisma: 10 ¡ú 1 (Unranked) (!)

    Regeneration: 10.15 (F-) ¡ú 41 (C-) (!)

    Intelligence: 18.8 (F+) ¡ú 1 (Unranked)] (!)

    So all my stats have completely reset to 1, except for the [Main Stats] which just got added by 5 because of the effect of [Seven-Year Ginseng].

    Since I was in a really low rank, ginseng had achieved maximum effectiveness.

    I am also extremely proud that the newly added Extra Stat increased the [Recovery] stat by a lot.

    -Extra Stats (New!)

    [Alteration: 90 (SS+).]

    I clicked on the stat to see more explanation.

    [Alteration: the ability to get used to or adapt to changes in the environment and circumstances.]

    I don''t eat ginseng or train to increase stats because of a bug that requires specific conditions to be met.

    These conditions include having a maximum of 100 stats and eating the remaining leaf after tearing a four-leaf clover in front of the statue of God at the end of the trial.

    Having collected and examined all the loot, it''s time for me to go home now.

    Stepping outside of the gate, tons of light hit directly at my face.

    As in the game, the exit will be located under the bridge in the city.

    At night, all kinds of light sources will light the entire city up, making the city really appealing and vibrant.

    That''s another thing I really love about this game.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    The map is enormous, yet so gorgeous and detailed at the same time.

    ''Oh, but I still don''t remember my home address.''

    Hmm, no, not really, I remember it now.

    ''Apparently, when I got out of the house in the morning, I looked at the addresses of houses near the character area where I live.''

    That is why [Super Memory] is so convenient.

    It not only helps me remember other miscellaneous things in my life, but it also helps me learn techniques faster through muscle memory mechanics.

    Especially since I used to have a memory like a sieve, so when I first entered this world, I already knew which skill I had to choose first.

    Not to mention there are a lot of tactics that I haven''t used in a while, so I''m afraid I''ve forgotten the steps.

    However, I still wasted a fantastic glitch.

    Sigh.

    "..."

    Ugh. Speaking of which, I also need to prepare more materials to make [Mana Core] tonight.

    * *

    7:06 P.M.

    After going to buy a lighter along with a candle at the convenience store, I immediately went home to prepare the [Mana Core] ritual.

    [Mana Core] has many designs with different purposes.

    Each has different effectiveness, cast speed, magnification, and power.

    The [Mana Core] of the Royal Family is the purest and the most effective.

    Next came the Magic Council and the Five Grand Dukes, which were slightly less effective. They instead focused on developing their family-specific effects that came with Mana circuits.

    But I''ve been playing the game for over 6 years.

    I know all the information like the back of my hand.

    Thus, I know that there is no such thing as a perfect [Mana Core].

    Another type of Mana circuit will only focus on certain stats or attack methods.

    That idea is rather narrow-minded, although it''s true that focusing on one certain area of magic is fine.

    It would make them extremely powerful with that specific magic type.

    There are even a lot of strong human beings who focus on one type of magic.

    For instance, 5 out of 6 people of the Six Great Heroes are people who learn only one certain type of magic.

    Nonetheless, they are still not the strongest heroes.

    The Number One Hero is the one who uses different magic types to create the strongest fighting style.

    And guess what [Mana Core] he used?

    No one would have guessed that it was the most basic [Mana Core].

    However, he didn''t use the basic Mana core mindlessly, he also tweaked his circuits a lot to make that Mana core develop according to his unique fighting style.

    ''That''s the plot, though.''

    In the game, many people created the strongest characters based on the basic [Mana Core].

    I also went in that direction because I simply wanted to use different powerful magic to combine them with my unique fighting styles

    First, to form a Mana Core, you need to be fully concentrated.

    That''s why I cleaned the room entirely to have enough space to sit and do all kinds of things.

    I took out a candle and lit it, then I turned off all the lights and drew the curtains.

    Next, I sat cross-legged to meditate.

    First, I have to imagine the shape of a core in my head. In my case, it will have the shape of an atom.

    I will try to absorb the surrounding Mana and try to circulate it around the heart following that spherical shape, which is called the human core.

    After about a few minutes... or maybe dozens of minutes, I got a notification from the System.

    [Congratulations to the owner for unlocking the trait "Basic Mana Core" (F-).]

    [Achieved potential "Mana" (F-).]

    Having formed the Mana core, now I close my eyes again and imagine the image of Mana being pushed out of my palms and then trying to maintain it there.

    Of course, it only lasts about 1 or 2 seconds because my Mana storage and Mana usage efficiency are lousy.

    I then need to [Absorb] Mana inside the core and eject it. Fortunately, I have the [Absorb] ability at rank A+ so this step is pretty easy.

    Then I will push Mana out into the palm of my hand until I run out of Mana and repeat over and over.

    But I have to stay focused constantly because Mana is really easy to dissolve when I lack concentration.

    Just a few minutes later, I could slowly do it without having to close my eyes and imagine.

    [The talents "Super Memory" and "Lightning Reflexes" have contributed to creating a new skill.]

    [Acquired skill "Mana Concentrating" (Lv.1).]

    This skill will be under the branch of Potential [Mana].

    Now I can gather Mana a little easier and the speed is also a little faster. And I also have a better Mana imagination.

    From normal Mana particles will gather to 1 point on a 2D plane, now those Mana particles will gather to 1 point on a 2D plane with a little depth, also known as a 2.5D environment.

    Thanks to [Super Memory], [Lightning Reflexes], and SS+ rank [Alteration], only 2 hours later I could almost concentrate Mana on any part of my body.

    But since that is just the beginning stage, next I will learn Magic.

    ["Mana" is the resource.

    And "Magic" is the use of that resources to benefit the User.]

    Going to the bathroom, I took the lighter from earlier and started burning my fingers.

    Disclaimer!

    This is not self-harm, okay?

    It''s a normal method in the game, alright?

    Don''t imitate me, because you don''t have a system, nor Mana.

    So there is no point in doing this action in real life too.

    ''That hurts as hell.''

    I put my hand in the water immediately.

    The high [Regeneration] stat also helps me a lot in healing the burnt skin.

    But I still haven''t unlocked the skill, so let''s restart the process...

    * *

    1 hour later.

    [Host''s body begins to develop the trait of "High-Temperature Resistance" (Low).]

    My hands are all blistered up.

    ''In the game, it would really be a much simpler process.''

    Then I concentrated Mana on my palm while burning my fingers. But because of the pain, I lost focus constantly.

    It wasn''t until I burned my hands so black that I began feeling some knowledge of fire and began transforming pure Mana into a fiery mass.

    It''s not fire yet, but it''s the first step. I then transformed it so that it had the orange-red-yellow color of the flame. This also takes a lot of time and seems to be of no benefit, but it is very important.

    Come to think of it, mana control and everything else involves imagination, right?

    ''We must attach our emotions and the things we find most familiar to Mana to achieve the greatest strength with ourselves.'' - Me, 2023.

    Back to the main point, after I turned it into flames. Next, I had to change its properties to make it flammable.

    This is very difficult since I have to influence people directly at Mana.

    Normally, pure Mana would not have any special properties, except that it can easily dissolve into the surrounding environment if there is no energy source to sustain it.

    I tried rubbing Mana against each other and increased the speed gradually to create friction.

    ''I''ve used up almost all of my Mana, but there''s no result.''

    "Sigh. I failed yet another time."

    [Acquired skill "Mana Transforming" (Lv.1).]

    ''Well, at least I''m still on the right track.''

    With this skill, I can easily change Mana''s properties. I tried it again and again.

    When I began remembering the feeling of being burned just now and tried to transform that Mana so that it could burn itself.

    [Achieved potential "Magic".]

    [The Host has learned the first step of "Fire Magic" (Apprentice)!]

    And it faded away instantly.

    "Mission failed successfully!!"

    Sigh.

    "Let''s try again, shall we?"

    I tried to encourage myself.

    I cast a flame on my hand and tried to maintain it, but it could only last for about 1 second and it would return to a pure Mana unit.

    "I don''t know what I''m doing wrong."

    I tried clicking on the [Mana Transforming] skill and it showed a note board:

    ["Mana Transforming" has 3 most important steps:

    Step 1: Take out the natural Mana in the Mana core through the Mana circuits in the body.

    (The rougher and more messy the Mana circuit is, the less effective it will be.)

    Step 2: Transform pure Mana into other types by imagining.

    (Specifically, it will change the properties of Mana particles so that it has the properties of a certain element.)

    Step 3: Continue to transform and maintain that Mana flow.]

    All my three steps were extremely inefficient since my mana [Store] ability was quite poor.

    Therefore, it both consumed more Mana than usual and didn''t even last that long.

    Alright, I''ll practice again tomorrow.

    I need to stabilize my [Mana Core].

    I think I have achieved a lot of things on day one.

    So let''s just call it a day and unwind by listening to some songs.

    Step into the bathroom to charge my battery and relieve the stress on my body after a long day.

    I have to admit that a lot of things happened on my first day.

    ''I''ll have to write a diary later.''

    ''What''s so convenient to write important information down so that you can use it later?''

    Standing in front of the mirror at the sink, I had ignored the elephant in the room for too long now.

    "I have to face it."

    ''Because in the game, the [Charisma] stat only helps to talk and increase affection faster.''

    ''However, now this is just not a normal game, so my situation might have been really, really different.''

    Sigh.

    I looked in the mirror and saw my character. My face was quite normal, to be honest, maybe just a little worse.

    It''s probably that the [Charisma] stat doesn''t change my face directly but some of the vibe and atmosphere around me.

    [Charisma: 1 (Unrank).]

    I ought to increase my [Charisma] stat quickly.

    ''Maybe another secret dungeon? I have tons of hidden Temples in my mind right now...''

    After journaling and taking some more notes, I lay down on the bed.

    Maybe it''s just the first day, so I still feel very confused.

    I still didn''t expect that I would reincarnate into Rainfall Disorder, a game with which I have a love-hate relationship.

    This game saved me in my hardest period, but... it also took everything after that.

    ''Well, I can also meet the main characters in this world.''

    I feel pretty excited when I think about the character I''ve loved and wanted to talk to for a long time in the game.

    And now I actually have a chance!

    Thinking of my crush in this game also makes me feel even more excited.

    Maybe I once used to be one of the biggest Katia simps.

    ''I feel like a kiddo right now.''

    When I entered this world, I had little time to think about my ex-girlfriend, but somehow I began to forget her.

    11.45 P.M.

 Chapter 6: Archery

    (Day 2)

    I opened my eyes and looked around.

    ''Fortunately, I am still in this world!''

    I thought everything that happened yesterday was just a dream.

    I got up from the bed and went to the bathroom.

    I brushed my teeth and washed my face while trying to get used to my unfamiliar face.

    ''Well, I''ll practice archery today.''

    I was going to practice using a bow properly before I started going to the next hidden Temple.

    ''Hmm. Which gym should I go to though?..''

    After thinking for a while, I finally decided where I should go.

    I was about to leave the flat when I heard the door close at the same time from the room next door.

    I turned to see where the noise was coming from, and a girl around my age was standing there looking at me.

    No, I mean she is looking directly at my face.

    After a while, she pointed directly at me and was about to say something.

    But before she could open her mouth, she shook her head and waved goodbye to me, and left.

    I mindlessly waved back too.

    ''Sigh. Is it because my face is so ugly that she could see the differences?''

    "I wish I had a mask to wear-"

    Ah. But ironically, I had one already.

    Sigh.

    I took the [Hidden Mask] from my space ring and put it on my face.

    [Charisma: 6 (Unranked).]

    ''What an impressive ability indeed!''

    * *

    There''s even a training quest sequence here. But I don''t know if I can accept quests as a Player.

    There''s nothing to lose if I try, right?

    I went inside the room rental facility and booked a private gym for 10 RC.

    By the way, I spent around 2 RC yesterday to buy both candles and lighters.

    So now I have only...

    [Account balance: 83 RC.]

    Fortunately, in the 10 RC rental rooms, the food service is included too.

    I haven''t eaten anything since yesterday, except for 2 [Memory Orb]s and 1 unprocessed ginseng root...

    ''Ugh. It tasted disgusting though.''

    The employee gave me a ticket despite how suspicious I am right now.

    I then just need to follow the number on the ticket.

    Reaching the room with the number 10 on it, I stopped there and swiped the ticket on the door handle.

    The door immediately opened on its own.

    A pure white room as if I was in another dimension.

    I walked in and then the door just vanished into the thin air.

    ''Game developer, why did you make the door so detailed?''

    ''It''s just a freaking door, dude?''

    "Okay, whatever, let''s train."

    First, I take out my weapons.

    I took the [Iron Dart Rope] and the [Formless Bow] out from the space ring.

    ''It looks so beautiful.''

    Then I thought about what job I should choose.

    Archer is also a good job, but it''s not the direction I''m going in.

    I need to survive better in this world.

    [Invisibile] or [Stealth] are both skills of an [Assassin].

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    [Assassin] huh?

    A job that isn''t the strongest but has quite a few benefits.

    Because I still have this mask.

    [-Hidden

    When you infuse Mana into the mask, the User erases a portion of your existence.]

    With this ability, I will survive much longer.

    Of course, just for the early phase of the game.

    Because no matter what, the catastrophe will strike on that day.

    My number one priority now is to raise the survivability chance in this world first.

    Then slowly I will become overpowered.

    ''But before I can become an [Assassin], I have to become a [Hunter] first.''

    So now I have to meet all the conditions for stats and other things quickly.

    And after that, I''ll defeat the Job Temple to get my first job.

    With the planning done, I held the [Iron Rope Dart] in my hand and tried swinging it a bit to get a feel for the weight of the weapon.

    ''First, I will practice using dart rope a bit.''

    I used to use swords, axes, bows, and wands in the game since those were the only options.

    However, I''ve used too many already, so it''s boring to just follow a path that I already know.

    That''s why I wanted to try learning to use a new weapon.

    So I will try dart rope first to see if it worked or not.

    Then I''ll go back to practicing archery.

    Swordsmanship or magic, one day I''ll practice those.

    After understanding the basics of dart rope, I switched back to archery.

    I will now learn how to infuse Mana into these arrows.

    Because after thinking and practicing for a while, I think choosing dart rope is a bit too bold of a choice at the moment.

    The first reason is that I just started learning how to use it so it''s still too weak.

    I mean I can''t even move it as I would like. I almost stabbed myself like when I met Atsuta yesterday...

    I''ll probably train using a bow first, and then I''ll use this weapon later.

    The second is that it will make me stand out unnecessarily.

    I think I should temporarily become an extra and accumulate strength gradually and then show the skill later.

    So I will temporarily hide the dart rope to use it as my trump card.

    In the meantime, I''ll use a bow in front of other characters.

    So maybe in about a month or two, maybe I will officially switch to dart rope.

    I think so...?

    Never mind, I''ll try archery now and see how it goes.

    First, I went online to watch some videos teaching how to use a bow even an idiot could learn.

    After watching for approximately 10 minutes, I feel like I have understood the basic steps.

    I summoned the bow with an arrow from my space ring and held it in my hand.

    Then I imagined a field archery.

    A second later, I stood unexpectedly in the middle of a field archery.

    Then I choose a suitable archery spot. Next, I hold an arrow and secure it in the correct position by snapping its nock on the bowstring.

    It is pretty simple but quite tricky to do, but I have a hard time with this process sometimes.

    I drew and anchored the bow.

    Aiming is a critical step that requires focusing both on the target and maintaining my archery form

    I aimed and reevaluated my stance. Then I made some adjustments here and there.

    ''Expansion during the release is important because it allows the archer to get a better shot by letting the string go cleanly and smoothly.'' - I murmured while trying to remember what the video had said.

    I released the arrow, but I lowered my bow right after the release. I had steered the arrow in a different vertical direction accidentally.

    ''Oh. I dropped the bow too early so my arrow didn''t have enough time to fly straight.''

    I missed a lot of shots as I made a lot of beginner''s mistakes.

    After shooting for more than an hour, I also learned how to shoot properly.

    ''All thanks to the SS+ stat [Alteration] and other talents.''

    I quite remember the steps to shoot already because of the effects of [Super Memory],

    And not just that, with the help of [Lightning Reflexes], I can readjust my archer stance more easily.

    [Achieved potential "Archery" (F-).]

    Having new potential makes me a lot more excited.

    Thus, I continued to shoot for a while.

    * *

    ''Oh, finally I hit the bullseye!''

    [Potential "Archery" has ranked up to (F)!]

    When the "Archery" potential went up to rank F, I immediately unlocked a random skill related to archery.

    [Acquired skill "Charged Attack" (Lv.1).]

    ----Potentials----

    [Archery] (F)

    Description: You are a beginner in using bows.

    -Charged Attack (Lv.1)

    When active, each second charge will consume "Stamina" and "Mana" to increase "Attack Power" and "Critical Rate" by 0.4%.

    Max: 30 seconds

    --------

    Then I shoot again, but this time I try to concentrate Mana on an arrow to increase the level of the potential "Mana".

    [Acquired skill "Mana Infusing" (Lv.1).]

    Once I had the skill, I tried it again and found it easier to infuse Mana with the arrows.

    And when I shot it, I saw a little fire arrow, but when it flew a little more, the fire was gone.

    Since the Mana that has been infused is not strong enough to sustain for a long time.

    And is also very unstable too.

    Thus, when fired, it will fluctuate more easily and cause the fire to fade way faster than it should.

    ''It''s pretty stable now. Let''s try the new skill.''

    "Ah. Come to think of it, this was the first active skill I got in my first playthrough too¡­"

    "How nostalgic it is."

    Huff.

    I got into a shooting position. Then take a deep breath and activate the new skill.

    ''Charged Attack.''

    Half a minute later, I released the arrow.

    It flew in a straight line.

    And straight to the heart.

    It made me exhale excitedly.

    Specifically, before, it will take about 1 second to reach the target.

    Now it only takes about 0.9 seconds to hit the bull''s eye.

    ''So it''s true that it''s 12% stronger after fully charging it.''

    Now, let''s check [Mana] and [Magic] potentials.

    ----Potential----

    * [Mana] (F-) (New!)

    Description: You are a beginner in using Mana

    -Mana Concentrating (Lv.1) (New!)

    Efficiency +5%

    -Mana Transforming (Lv.1) (New!)

    Efficiency +2.5%

    -Mana Infusing (Lv.1) (New!)

    Efficiency +1%

    * [Magic] (F-) (New!)

    Description: You are a beginner in using Magic

    -Fire Magic (Apprentice) (New!)

    --------

    ''Pretty good!''

    And then I tried a combination of both skills - [Charged Attack] and [Fire Magic].

    "I will call this move [Charged Fire Arrow]..."

    "No, that name sucks... How about [Super Fire Arrow]?"

    "... I will think about that problem later."

    However, that move consumed a lot of Manas.

    Therefore, when I first tried it, I couldn''t even shoot because I ran out of Mana.

    Afterward, I rested longer to recover my Mana.

    Then, I tested again.

    But this time, I have learned from my mistake.

    I activated [Charged Attack] first and waited.

    When it reached maximum power, I immediately activated the second skill [Mana Infusing].

    When the arrow was infused with Fire Mana entirely, I released the arrow.

    Arrows fired as fast as before, but this time I covered the arrow in fire.

    And by the time it hits the target, it still has some fire on it.

    Unlike last time, the fire was extinguished before hitting the target.

    ''Now I''ll spend the rest of the time leveling up both of my newly gained skills.''

    ''I''ll go to the hidden Dungeon tomorrow then.''

    Grr.

    ''My stomach is freaking growling.''

    Sigh.

    I should go eat something first and then I will practice later.

    ''Hopefully, they sell burgers or at least a bowl of miso soup with some tofu.''

 Chapter 7: First Time

    (Day 3)

    11.30 P.M.

    It''s pretty late now.

    I was supposed to go to the next hidden Temple today.

    But then I was so focused that I didn''t watch the time.

    Only now did I notice I was late.

    This practice room is so convenient that you can sleep in here.

    ...

    Well, let''s go to that Temple tomorrow then.

    But I really have to admit that the training rooms in this game are so freaking modern.

    Too modern indeed!

    I illustrated it yesterday too.

    This place can transform into any kind of training facility that the user imagines.

    Of course, it is also more expensive...

    However, the quality is undisputedly high.

    Today is August 20th, 2023, the 3rd day since I came to this world.

    And that admission letter said there would be a class placement test on the 24th.

    It will comprise a variety of tests, such as strength and endurance, to measure stats.

    But of course, there are lots of different tests.

    Although they can check the stat on the wristwatch, it is more like a public test for the school to witness the talents and efforts of students directly.

    My results of archery practice and string darts after 2 days are:

    ----Potentials----

    * [Archery] (F ¡ú F+) (!)

    Description:

    -Charged Attack (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2) (!)

    When active, each second charge will consume "Stamina" and "Mana" to increase "Attack Power" and "Critical Rate" by (0.4 ¡ú 0.44%).

    Max: (30 ¡ú 32 seconds).

    * [The Art of Dart Rope] (F-) (New!)

    --------

    My stats are also slightly different because of a bit of training.

    [Mana: 35 (D) ¡ú 40 (D+).] (!)

    [Store: 0 (Null) ¡ú 10 (Unranked).] (!)

    -Main Stats

    [Strength: 6 ¡ú 6.25 (Unranked) (!)

    Endurance: 6 ¡ú 6.1 (Unranked) (!)

    Agility: 6 (Unranked)

    Perception: 6 ¡ú 6.2 (Unranked)] (!)

    Also, my secondary stat [Intelligence] has increased by a lot too

    [Intelligence: 1 ¡ú 1.5 (Unranked).] (!)

    I think [Super Memory] has contributed to developing muscle in my brain by a lot.

    Many people might wonder why I chose Fire Magic.

    But actually, the reason is very simple.

    ''It is really powerful.''

    And it is also a basic type of magic that anyone can learn.

    I went to the room and saw someone looking at me.

    ''Why does this person look familiar?''

    "Oh, hello neighbor-san."

    A series of memories started running through my head.

    "Um, hi..." - I replied with a bit hesitant.

    So she is that person I met yesterday morning.

    ''So she is a Japanese girl.''

    She then suddenly asked.

    "Did you practice here too?"

    "Yep. You too?"

    "Yes. And could you tell me why you practiced for so long? Since I went in yesterday afternoon, someone has already taken this room."

    "Um, I was just there practicing and suddenly fell asleep."

    "¡­ You''re a funny one, aren''t you?" - She said as she giggled a bit.

    "No offense, it''s just that you''re kinda interesting and yet you don''t start a conversation with anyone."

    ''This girl is kinda adorable.''

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    "No offense taken. I just don''t enjoy talking with strangers."

    "That''s unfortunate though, and ah! I''m moving house again today. And this will be my last day as your neighbor."

    "Um. Goodbye, see ya one day."

    "Well, let''s meet at the academy some other time."

    "Okay. Huh? Huh? How did you know I was at your same academy?"

    She struck me with her sudden bright smile.

    "I just guessed."

    "Huh?" - I was dumbfounded.

    "Well, see ya soon."

    "Yeah, goodbye."

    This girl is just undefeatable.

    We both waved to each other.

    ''I feel like I kinda stink.''

    ''Luckily there''s a public bath here, so I should take a shower.''

    While taking a shower, I felt a little craving for food...

    ''I miss those hamburgers so much.''

    I went to the food counter to get another hamburger and put it in my mouth to chew.

    "That''s what life is, man."

    In the game, they make the food much better than in real life.

    So it makes me curious about other specialties...

    But the most important thing is the legendary food in the game, right?

    Gulp.

    My drool came out.

    Oops. I hope no one sees that.

    Especially when my [Charisma] is number 1, they will treat me as a freaking pervert.

    Hmm. Now I''ll probably finish eating, then I will go home and hit the sack.

    There are only 3 days left before the class placement test.

    ''Hmm. Speaking of which, why does the class test date coincide with the game''s VR version release date...''

    The main plot will start right at that test.

    ''It''s a coincidence or what?''

    Hmm.

    Whatever.

    * *

    (Day 4)

    11.27 A.M.

    Today as I have previously mentioned, I will go to the Whispering Forest and challenge the next hidden Temple - God of Thunder.

    Before reaching the forest, I stopped by the drugstore to buy [Small Health Potion] and [Small Mana Potion].

    Each one costs exactly 10 RC, so I only dare to buy a health potion and 2 Mana potions.

    Those things will ?boost health and mana regeneration.

    [Account balance: 53 RC.]

    I have lost 47 dollars in real life in 4 days since I came to this world...

    The cost of living for a Hero here is indeed very expensive...

    In the game, there was a time when I even had to spend over 1 million on a single weapon.

    "I have to make money quickly."

    The way to the Temple is pretty easy to find since I''ve walked this way a lot in the game.

    Whispering Forest is a very peaceful forest and sometimes there are very cute little animals wandering by the travelers.

    When I arrived at the Temple, I looked around for a while.

    The door was the same as before, made of cobblestone and engraved with ancient characters on it.

    This dungeon has a lower rank than the previous one, specifically C rank.

    I chose this gate because the monsters here are all slimes.

    Slime is a liquid monster, it covers its whole body with water or something like that.

    Therefore, those monsters have no eyes and noses, so they can''t see or smell.

    And in the middle of the monster, it is the core. Just apply enough force into the core and the monster will die immediately.

    Unless we go into the area where it can hear noises or vibrations.

    So I''m going to apply my archery ability to see how it turns out.

    But if they attack me just once, I will most likely die.

    ''I should wear all the equipment I have.''

    ''Don''t be careless.''

    ----Equipments----

    * [Hidden Mask]

    * [Protection Necklace]

    --------

    Holding the [Formless Bow] in my hand, I poured Mana into the bow to activate the [Retractable] function.

    The bow was folded neatly.

    Open the temple door, inside is still a cave as usual.

    Because most Temples are spawned in caves.

    I stepped and went deep inside.

    The deeper I went, the darker it became, so I took the torch on the wall and carried it with me.

    Suddenly, I saw the first slime.

    I take the bow and transfer Mana to open the bow.

    After that, I quickly crouched down and walked closer, but keeping a distance from the slime.

    Looking closely, I can see that it has no color at all, so this one is probably pure mana type, there''s nothing like that.

    ''It''s definitely an F- one.''

    Monsters in a dungeon will always start at F- and will increase as you go deeper.

    Only the Boss is at rank C though.

    Huff.

    I took a breath and got into a shooting position.

    Calmly aiming, I released the arrow.

    The arrow grazed the slime!

    It goes in the direction where it was attacked.

    I panicked intensely.

    ''Calm down myself...''

    ''I need to shoot again.''

    My heart skipped a beat as the monster rushed towards me.

    I try to stay calm by breathing in and out.

    Twang.

    The arrow flew in a single line and hit the slime''s core.

    The slime exploded.

    Then a Magic stone dropped.

    My hands are wet with sweat.

    Even though I didn''t panic, I was still terrified.

    This one contains a lot of pure Mana.

    Clients would buy them at quite high prices.

    "Money is coming, babe."

    But in F-rank, you can get 1 RC a piece.

    ''Well, many a little makes a mickle''

    I put them in the space ring and continued.

    Along the way, I encountered and killed F-level monsters using the former method.

    I will stand far away and then shoot arrows.

    Fortunately, there was only one slime standing alone every time.

    The deeper you go, the higher rank the slimes will be.

    I killed 2 more F- rank slimes, 3 F rank slimes, and 5 F+ rank slimes.

    ''Those two slimes are electric and E rank.''

    The electricity around the slime is powerful.

    I shouldn''t get too close to them.

    ''What should I do now? Are they too far apart?''

    ''I wonder if it''s spread?''

    I try to infuse fire Mana on the arrow and shoot the electric slime closest to me.

    When the arrow contacted the electrical current around the slime.

    Two opposing elements combine to create a reaction.

    And when fire comes into contact with electricity, it will overreact.

    I hid behind the rock and...

    Boom.

    A deafening explosion occurred.

    Smoke billows up.

    I turned around to see that the two monsters had completely evaporated.

    Each E-rank Magic Stone will make around 4-6 RC.

    And there were also a bunch of obstacles I needed to overcome.

    Because of the talent "Lightning Reflexes" also had a great impact on my senses

    [Achieved potential "Spatial Awareness" (E+).]

    I am more aware of my surroundings and can avoid more unexpected traps that I accidentally forget for a moment.

    After that, I entered a room with a lot of D-rank slimes.

    There must be at least 10 children.

    Because I haven''t been able to see deeper into that room yet.

    But that''s it!

    Another Lightning-type slime!

    But the distance from my place was somewhere around 100 meters.

    I have to use the combo I made the other day.

    I activate [Charged Attack].

    32 seconds later, when it was fully charged, I infused the arrow with fire Mana.

    Twang

    I released the arrow.

    The distance between the arrow and the dragging slime was quickly cut.

    Boom!

    The entire room exploded.

    [Acquired "Aim Assisting" (Lv.1).]

    [Condition: Shooting from a distance of 100m when the potential "Archery" is below rank E-.]

    This is my first time getting this skill.

    I''ve also heard about some skills that start from meeting certain conditions.

    ''That''s pretty neat.''

    I went into that room and picked up the Magic Stones dropped.

    D-rank magic stones could be sold for around 18 RC.

    At the end of the room, I see nothing but a wall.

    ''Strange. A dead end?''

    On that wall was a painting that was painted from ancient times.

    A terrible rain with monsters appearing is the disaster that lies

    Rainfall Disorder - Rainfall Disorder...

    This one hasn''t appeared yet.

    But when entering the main storyline, everything will be clear.

    ''I have to become stronger...''

    Think of the things in front of me.

    ''I have too many disadvantages.''

    I unconsciously used [Charged Attack] on my fist.

    This is like a warning bell that the coming disaster is no childish joke.

    Many people will die in this disaster.

    But the worst has yet to come.

    All the rain is just calm before the storm.

    ''I must admit that the fate of the characters here is unfortunate to live in this cruel world....''

    ''And by accident, I was reincarnated into this world¡­''

    Then I used all my strength and punched the wall.

    Boom.

    The wall broke into pieces and revealed another cave.

    ''This is the hidden path in the game...''

    Even though a lot of details have changed here, they still keep everything like the original game.

    ''I''ll make the most of my knowledge and beat this damn game!''

 Chapter 8: First Boss Fight Ever

    Glug.

    I drank a bottle of water while finding the way to the boss.

    Although I''ve been walking in that cave for a while now, I still can''t see the way leading to the boss.

    There were even a lot of slimes on the way, so I used [Charged Attack] and [Fire Magic] combos to shoot the slime to clear the entire horde.

    After that, if there are any survivors of that elemental explosion, I will clear the rest.

    That''s a very easy, yet efficient strategy.

    And also thanks to the new skill [Aim Assisting], shooting from a distance has become a lot easier.

    [-Aim Assisting (Lv.1) (New!)

    Assist aiming for the User and when the User hits the aiming target, increase the Critical Rate by 10%.]

    "A pretty handy skill."

    It helps me aim much better and even get a 10% more Critical Rate.

    I opened my watch to see the time, and it was already late.

    [8.28 P.M.]

    I should probably eat something now.

    ''As they have said, it''s no use preaching to a hungry man.''

    Besides, I ran out of Mana anyway.

    Being in the dungeon all day made my [Mana] and [Magic] potentials both reach rank F.

    ----Potentials----

    * [Mana] (F- ¡ú F) (!)

    Description: You are a beginner in using Mana

    -Mana Concentrating (Lv.1)

    Efficiency +5%

    -Mana Transforming (Lv.1)

    Efficiency +2.5%

    -Mana Infusing (Lv.2) (!)

    Efficiency (+1 ¡ú +2.5%)

    * [Magic] (F- ¡ú F) (!)

    Description: You are a beginner in using Magic

    -Fire Magic (Apprentice) (!)

    Damage +2.5% (New!)

    --------

    ''Too unlucky.''

    If I was a little luckier, I would have gained a new magic or skill related to Mana.

    But man proposes, God disposes.

    Sigh.

    ''My RNG is so bad.''

    [Archery] is already in F+, so it''s quite difficult to make a breakthrough to reach a new realm.

    But in return, the skill "Charged Attack" has reached level 3 since I have used it quite a lot today.

    I even had to drink a Mana potion earlier, but now I have depleted all my Mana again.

    [-Charged Attack (Lv.2 ¡ú Lv.3)

    When active, each second charge will consume "Stamina" and "Mana" to increase "Attack Power" and "Critical Rate" by (0.44 ¡ú 0.5%).

    Max: (32 ¡ú 35 seconds).]

    I walked around the cave for a while looking for food.

    Carefully selecting the food, I filter out the dangerous ones with the edible ones.

    Of course, I will keep both. But I will not eat poisonous mushrooms.

    I don''t know why I pointed it out though, it''s so freaking obvious.

    Then I''ll check them with [Appraisal] skill just in case.

    [Created technique "Foraging" (Beginner).]

    "Great."

    But as soon as I checked, the torch had already gone out, causing me to stop at this place.

    I threw out the dry sticks that I had collected earlier and put them in one place.

    "This is also an advantage of Fire Magic."

    Instead of trying to make a fire hopelessly because my survival skill is basically non-existent, I just need to create fire on top of this campfire.

    Popping.

    The fire took a while to flare up.

    Fortunately, I learned a lot about the foraging and cooking part of this game because the food in the game also buffs a large amount of power.

    Even cooking is a kind of meta to fight the ultimate bosses.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Then I purposely wet the two solid sticks of wood with the water bottle I brought with me and then I set up a medieval stove.

    I took the iron pot out of the ring and poured water into it.

    Next, I cut the carrots and peeled the potatoes while waiting for the water to boil.

    When the water boils, I put the two ingredients straight into the pot.

    Next, I cut the sausages into small pieces.

    They were the leftovers from my fridge.

    When I smell the fragrance of the broth.

    I put some shiitake mushrooms and sausages in it.

    "And...?"

    [Created technique "Cooking" (Beginner).]

    "Wait a minute."

    [Technique "Foraging" will be a sub-technique of technique "Cooking".]

    [Technique "Cooking" will receive 50% more Skill Exp.]

    Oh, and of course there''s this one too.

    Now, let me see the cooking results.

    ----Items----

    [Ryoshu''s Potato Stew] (F+)

    Description: A delicious potato stew with Amemura Ryoshu''s style.

    -Unwind

    Will have a good sleep.

    --------

    And now I''ll take out another bowl of rice from the space ring to eat with.

    "Thanks for the food."

    Immediately after eating, I put all the cooking materials and leftovers into the space ring.

    Then I took out my sleeping bag and lay down.

    I sat watching the fire and the environment around here.

    This is my first time sleeping outside like this... even though it''s not very outdoor...

    ''It''s been a long time since I''ve felt this relaxed.''

    Some wonderful memories from the past popped in.

    ''I miss Mom and Dad so much.''

    ''I wonder how you guys live in heaven, do you guys still argue with each other for childish reasons?''

    "Heehee."

    "I miss you two so much..."

    I slept soundly that night.

    * *

    (Day 5)

    4.15 A.M.

    This morning I got up quite early.

    But I forgot to bring my toothbrush, so I can only wash my face and perfume my mouth.

    Today I will continue going this way.

    Along the way, I encountered countless slimes with the number of over 3 dozen.

    But fortunately, there were a lot of electric slimes so I used the elemental reaction to destroy the entire horde.

    That''s why I chose this temple.

    I''ve collected tons of Magic Stones, and after this trip, I''ll have some money.

    ''I''ll probably start investing in stocks when I go out.''

    Even the last boss in this challenge is an electric slime.

    So it''s a "free" C-rank Magic Stone.

    ''The price is somewhere around 82 RC.''

    But the only thing is that it is quite large, and it is extremely strong.

    The game is not naturally called a hardcore game.

    ''There''s a reason for that.''

    Speaking of the devil, I''ve reached the end of the hidden way.

    And the first thing that caught my eye was the boss of the challenge.

    The electric slime boss is about 4 meters tall and the width should be 10 times that of a small slime.

    ''After defeating it, I can go home and brush my teeth.''

    First, I used my full-charged attack as usual.

    About 35 seconds later, the bow and arrow will be buffed by exactly 17.5%.

    Twang.

    An explosion appeared.

    Smoke quickly drifted up to my face.

    After the smoke cleared a bit, I started going down to see if the boss was still alive.

    Thought that slime was dead, but the boss was still alive.

    Suddenly the Boss got up and activated his last resort - [Electric Matrix].

    A skill that covers every part of the battlefield.

    Even [Death Sense] was activated, but I couldn''t avoid it in time.

    I was thrown backward and hit directly at the wall.

    It felt as if all of my ribs had just been crushed.

    The blood in my mouth just shot out on its own.

    I panting heavily.

    ["Protection Necklace" activated the "Overly Protect" function by itself.]

    [This function has been out of usage today.]

    Luckily, [Protection Necklace] worked and prevented me from dying.

    ''I was too careless because it was so peaceful from the start.''

    "I haven''t even entered the [Main Storyline]... but it''s already so miserable."

    However, who would have thought that an item that I didn''t need would be so useful?

    ----Equipment----

    [Protection Necklace] (A+)

    Description: An above-average necklace from the old era.

    -Protect

    Negate 10% of incoming damage.

    -Overly Protect

    When the User receives an attack that can immediately kill the User, this equipment will be destroyed to negate 60% damage of that attack.

    Usage: Once a day (0/1).

    --------

    But now I lost my "first life". I have only one left.

    I drank the only health potion I brought to recover my heavy-damaged flesh nearly immediately.

    Huff,

    ''I feel better now.''

    Here, I have 2 options: "run away" or "win".

    Even though It has crushed my bones and my muscles a bit.

    And the differences between realms are indeed really terrifying.

    Many people think it is nothing.

    But no, the differences among realms are vastly large.

    For example, if rank E is about 2 times stronger than rank F, then rank D must be 3 times stronger than rank E.

    But here I am fighting a C-rank monster.

    Hence, it must also be ten times stronger than me.

    But luckily, I still have only an edge over it.

    And you guys have seen it.

    That is [Fire magic].

    Since fire magic ignited lightning magic, when the two elements contacted, it created a powerful explosion.

    The slime only needs to be hit by one of my fire arrows and it will lose a lot of health.

    Even though I can''t knock it out in one shot, if I attack it repeatedly, it will die soon.

    So of course I won''t run away.

    I never even thought of running away at my most desperate moment.

    Thus, why do I have to be afraid of a boss that I remember all its moves and behaviors?

    I continued to fight the boss slime by shooting fire arrows from a distance.

    Many people think slime is the starting boss because it''s weak... but actually, it''s just because it''s the weakest of dozens of other terrible monsters.

    In this game, slime has many versions.

    The species that we normally consider weak doesn''t focus on combat ability.

    But some slime species are very strong and are rated SSS+, which is the Slime King.

    This slime boss that I''m fighting is very good at status effects and big damage.

    Its core is located so deep inside the body that it cannot penetrate with normal attack methods.

    At the same time, I also try to dodge attacks where it slams to the ground.

    But the lightning bolts have random trajectories, so sometimes even if I dodged the major attack, I was still hit by a small bolt of lightning, causing me to get slightly paralyzed.

    This is also the reason that few Players recommend not going to this dungeon at the beginning of the game.

    Now I see the point.

    But suddenly I tripped and got hit by a bolt of lightning, my whole body was paralyzed and could not move anymore.

    I felt on the ground.

    And the boss rushed towards me.

    ''Is this the end?''

    No!

    ''I still have this ace!''

    "Hidden!"

    The slime suddenly got flustered because I wasn''t there.

    I gasped, but it could not feel me.

    It wandered around and tried to sense me by its Mana.

    However, nowhere could he find me.

    The boss got confused and tried to attack randomly

    ''So the mask can really erase a part of my existence.''

    ''I have to thank that old man Atsuta the next time I see him.''

    I stood up unsteadily and started using [Charged Attack].

    But it only took about 12 seconds for me to feel that my Mana bar was about to run out, so I consumed the Mana potion.

    Maybe it''s because the [Hidden] function consumes more mana than I expected.

    I charged for 35 seconds and then combined it with Fire Magic.

    But I still don''t see a better chance of winning.

    If there was a way to increase "Critical Rate"...

    A plan popped into my brain within 0.1 seconds.

    I took some ingredients that I just got and tinkered with them a bit.

    Ting.

    ''Oh, my god...''

    "Turns out this equipment is even better than I thought!"

    Immediately run towards the boss, still holding the bow and arrow at the same time.

    ''If what I remember is true¡­''

    The Boss also dashed straight at me!

    Just like the move set in the game.

    "Aim Assisting!"

    I stopped and looked straight at its core.

    When the Boss almost touched me.

    "Death Sense will automatically activate!"

    Everything went slower as if I was in sped-up mode.

    I pointed the arrow straight at the Boss''s core and readjusted my aim slightly.

    And when I was only one centimeter away from the Boss.

    I activated a move I never thought I''d used.

    "Stab!"

    Then I released the arrow.

    And of course, there''s one more trump card I''ve been saving for.

    When the tip of the arrow hit the "body" of the slime, I immediately activated the skill.

    "Re:Counter!!"

    Boom!

 Chapter 9: The Main Characters:

    The arrow flew through the slime and its core.

    As I let go of the arrow, there was an explosion right in front of me, most likely because of how close it was.

    I couldn''t dodge that explosion, no matter what.

    I should have died by then, but I didn''t.

    Despite being thrown a great distance and rolling for several meters on the ground, my body managed to endure the impact.

    Most importantly, I''m still alive.

    Although, of course, I had a preventative plan to defend; it was still a pretty risky bet.

    "I nearly died here."

    Just now, I quickly upgraded the Protection Necklace using a magic stone and Echidna Flower before heading to see the boss.

    Usage: Once ¡ú Twice a day. (0/2)

    -Re:Counter (New!)

    When active, increase your next "Attack Damage" by all the damage taken.

    And if that attack is a "Critical Hit", refill the "Re:Counter" by a quarter of that "Attack Damage".

    Current Energy: 10%.

    --------

    ''[Redemption Necklace]¡­''

    It is an incredibly powerful, even game-breaking, set of items that only one person has found and he refuses to share any information about it.

    And the thing that disrupts the game balance the most is this "Re:Counter" function.

    I used it earlier to increase the firepower of the attack by many times.

    And I was really lucky too.

    Although the Critical Rate reached 42.5%.

    [The passive of [Formless Bow] gave 10%, the fully [Charged Attack] gave 17.5%, [Aim Assistant] gave 10%, and [Stab] gave 5%.

    I don''t know why it ranks E- though.

    ''It''s kinda broken for an E-rank weapon.''

    Or maybe because the [Critical Rate] is really low, and its rank drops too.

    But, whatever, most importantly, I accidentally got [Redemption Necklace].

    ''It looks perfect.''

    And It also surged in strength.

    "Perhaps it has recovered by a quarter of my finishing move as the function was written."

    So now one of the three artifacts to make a full set now belongs to me.

    The only 2 items left are a pair of gloves and a belt bag.

    The way I used to upgrade the necklace is... of course, that''s a bug.

    == [Detected an error!] ==

    == [Review: it can seriously affect the World!] ==

    == [Initiate the debugging process immediately!] ==

    == [The bug has been completely annihilated!] ==

    Sigh.

    ''Rip another bug.''

    The [Reward Chest] suddenly appeared where the Boss was fading.

    I went to the chest and opened it.

    ----Reward Chest----

    [Charisma Potion (C)], [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion (D-)]x3, [Lightning Magic Book]

    ----

    ''So I could learn [Lightning magic] now.''

    Even though I couldn''t get it as a skill right away, at least I didn''t have to be struck by lightning to learn it.

    In addition, I also received a [Charisma Potion] rank C!

    ''Fantastic! I won''t need to wear a mask all the time.''

    ''Soon.''

    ----Items---

    [Charisma Potion] (C)

    Description: A very good potion for an ugly idiot.

    -Beautify

    Upon consuming, immediately increase [Charisma] permanently by 1 stat point.

    And after that, every day[Charisma] stat will be increased by 0.05 stat points until it reaches 20.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    --------

    ''Who wrote this description?''

    ''Why so personal?!''

    Sigh.

    I immediately drank it without waiting for anything.

    [Charisma: 2 (Unranked).]

    I also had 3 potions to boost my growth even faster.

    "I should probably use this at the gym."

    I put all the items in the ring and then its magic stone part changed from blue to red.

    ''Perhaps it''s out of space.''

    ''I need to buy a new one sooner than I thought.''

    I exited the Temple through the portal.

    Since it''s already late afternoon, I plan to build muscles and core in the upcoming days by going to the gym and wrapping up the final two days before the class placement test.

    Sigh.

    The main storyline is about to begin, and of course, comes with many new challenges that are even more difficult.

    ''Come on, let''s go.''

    * *

    7.30 P.M.

    I have walked to the city successfully.

    ''I swear I''ll make a lot of money to buy the gate.''

    Entering the city, I encountered quite a few students of Spiral Academy.

    The reason I know is that they''re wearing the unique uniform of the world''s number 1 academy. On the sleeve is attached the spiral, the symbol of the school.

    Many Streamers analyze it as the image that represents the strings of fate that are closely tied together.

    ''You can see it with your own eyes to see how beautiful it is.''

    ''Not to mention, most of them are pretty good-looking.''

    They were standing here probably gathered for that class test.

    ''I shouldn''t go out there because that would make me pretty stand out.''

    But from the back, I can see the main characters.

    They all have something very eye-catching.

    I mean, literally, there were a lot of students and passersby looking over them.

    Let me introduce the main characters.

    We have the person who will become the strongest in the world, a boy with blue hair and blue eyes.

    ''Takahashi Haruki.''

    Standing next to the male character, obviously the female character, the royal princess of England - the Williams. It was Charlotte Williams with the signature blonde hair of royalty.

    Next, we have another princess of Russia, my crush in this game.

    Don''t judge me!

    This character has a very interesting backstory, and her design is top-notch in this game too.

    Don''t you dare judge me!

    ''She looks gorgeous...''

    I paused as if she had infatuated me.

    ''This is what it feels like to meet your other half.''

    Let me introduce you to her. Her name is Volkov Katia, and as I was saying, she is the only princess of Russia with her elegant silver hair.

    And I forgot to tell you this vital information.

    ''I am currently in England.''

    England is one of the most fortunate countries because the First Hero was born? here.

    Thus, England is currently the most peaceful country on Earth.

    However, instead of dominating other countries, they even offered help.

    And later they founded the best hero academy for students all around the world.

    Therefore, we have achieved the long-awaited peace.

    I ignored it and put on the mask.

    ''They have nothing to do with me in this world anyways.''

    I passed them and accidentally bumped into someone.

    ''Huh? Who did I bump into?''

    Ah... that''s the girl I don''t like the most in this game.

    Esther White, a girl from the Five Great Nobles with jet-black hair,

    She is also quite beautiful.

    "You peasant, what are you doing walking around!?"

    See, very unlikable.

    "I didn''t do it on purpose."

    "You don''t know who I am, do you? And what is that weird mask?"

    ''This girl is the most arrogant and hot-tempered person in the group.''

    Another person tried to dissuade her.

    "Come on, Esther-san."

    "Haruki, get out of my way so I can deal with this idiot."

    "Esther, stop it."

    Katia raised her clear voice, making my heart beat faster.

    "We''re standing in the middle of the road."

    "Stop messing around with people weaker than you, Esther."

    "Whatever."

    Although Esther immediately shut her mouth up, she looked kind of furious.

    ''This is the relationship between Esther and Katia.''

    ''Katia is also really arrogant and superior in the early phase of the main storyline.''

    A hand gently appeared in front of me.

    "I''m sorry for bumping into you."

    "Are you okay?"

    I stood up by myself though.

    "I''m alright."

    ''I just wanna get the hell out of here.''

    Then suddenly.

    "Ryoshu?" Charlotte said my name.

    "Huh?"

    Then not only me but also their entire group was dumbfounded.

    They were staring at me.

    Esther took out my mask so quickly that I couldn''t see her hand.

    "Why does your freaking face look so disgusting?"

    "Um, well I gotta admit that you look really different from a week ago." Haruki tried to salvage the sticky situation.

    ''So my character knew them¡­ That''s new.''

    Esther then insulted me.

    "I cannot believe that this idiot tried to be your boyfriend, Charlotte."

    ''What the hell?''

    ''Really dude? I cannot believe that too.''

    ''They must be thinking that I was so lovesick that I ruined my face.''

    "So you were that sad when being rejected?"

    ''Told ya.''

    Sigh. I have to flee quickly.

    Many people on the street were looking at me, making me feel insecure as hell.

    "No."

    "Are you guys done yet?"

    "Goodbye."

    She tried to catch me,

    "Hey, hey, where are you going? I''m not done with you yet."

    But this time I used [Lightning Reflexes] to hold her forearm.

    And at the same time, I reached and took back my mask.

    I glowered coldly at her.

    "Esther White."

    "You wanna start something?"

    She silenced and hesitated.

    I immediately turned around, put the mask on, and went directly to the gym without looking back.

    However, I still need to cut her way to find me entirely though.

    So.

    "Hidden." I whined.

    "Where is he?"

    "That freaking bastard!"

    "I hate you!"

    She was standing there and barked loudly.

    "I didn''t ask you though."

    I just went on my way to the gym.

    * *

    8.06 P.M.

    I went to the same gym where I practiced archery.

    This gym is called "Muscle Number One".

    "That name is weird."

    And as I had suspected, the System did not give me a quest.

    I''m just partially a Player, so although I can appraise other items and check my detailed stats, I still can''t do any other things, which is unfortunate.

    Being a Player has so many perks, such as a quest system or an inventory system.

    Sigh.

    ''How can I upgrade my system?''

    That''s a very tricky question.

    There is no way to upgrade an [Authority] as far as I''m concerned.

    [Authority] is a special ability that a few ones could get in the game.

    Even though it''s a single-player game, once you take the [Unique Item]... those items will be unique for just that person like forever.

    And [Unique Item] will also include [Authority],

    ''So I''m really confused about my [Authority].''

    ''How can the [System] be an Authority?''

    Sigh.

    There is no point in thinking about it now.

    At the moment, I have to train to be capable of joining class A!

    I paid another 10 RC for two days using their room service again.

    "Okay, let''s just practice then."

    I sat down and meditated.

    ''Today I will break through my [Store] ability into another realm!''

    [Store: 10 (Unranked).]

    ''And to do that, I need to rank up my [Mana Core] trait to rank F.''

    I began circulating my Mana Core and the circuit as I went.

    ''Ugh. It hurts a lot.''

    The process would be swift since my [Mana] and [Magic] potentials have achieved rank F.

    "It has only been 10 minutes anyways."

    "I just need to endure it for a while."

    [The Host''s "Mana Core" has been widened!]

    [Your trait "Basic Mana Core" has ranked up to rank F.]

    Unfortunately, when leveling up, traits will not give bonus skills or anything unless they go to a new realm., it means I have to rank it up to rank E-.

    But that''s okay, that''s not my purpose either.

    [Store: 10 (Unranked) ¡ú 11 (F-).]

    ''This is my purpose.''

    Now it feels like my Mana capacity should be more than double.

    ''Great, I have temporarily fixed my Mana problem for now.''

    Huff.

    I took out three [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion (D-)] potions.

    "Now it''s time to blow my [Main Stats] up!''

    "Let''s grind!"

 Chapter 10: Class Placement Test Day

    (Day 7)

    7.17 A.M.

    ''I have been in this world for a week now.''

    And it''s finally time for the class placement test.

    For the past two days, I mainly slept, ate, exercised, rested, and then continued practicing.

    ''Those three potions paid off.''

    ----Items----

    [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion] (D-)

    Description: Made by a very famous alchemist.

    -Growth Boosting

    The consumer has a 100% increase in the training speed for the "Main Stats" in 5 hours.

    --------

    My body hardens, and I can see a bit of muscle.

    My [Main Stats] have increased quite a lot since before.

    -Main Stats (!)

    [Strength: 6.25 ¡ú 7.5 (Unranked)

    Endurance: 6.1 ¡ú 8.2 (Unranked)

    Agility: 6 ¡ú 6.9 (Unranked)

    Perception: 6.2 (Unranked) ¡ú 10.1 (F-)]

    My [Strength] increased by more than a point, probably because the push-ups and barbell exercises were more effective than I thought.

    [Agility] didn''t increase as much as I wanted, it''s probably because I didn''t practice running a lot, but since my ego was rolling a lot, it still increased a considerable amount. And yeah 6.9, no intention at all.

    [Endurance] and [Perception] both increased significantly.

    Because of the intense and long training, my endurance increased rapidly, and [Perception] was because of my archery training.

    The higher the [Perception] stat, the faster and more accurate it will be.

    And thanks to the F-realm [Perception],

    [Critical Rate: 1%.]

    I got the passive "Critical Rate"!

    In addition, because of the good practice of archery, the [Aim Assisting] skill leveled up.

    [Aim Assisting (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2)

    Assist aiming for the User and when the User hits the aiming target, increase Critical Rate by (10 ¡ú 12%).]

    That adds another 3% to the [Critical Rate].

    ''Maybe I should focus on building the [Critical Rate] to 100%.''

    ''A very new build that I have never tried before.''

    In contrast, the arrow that the old man gave me was also damaged, I broke almost half of it from the adventure in the hidden Temple of the God of Thunder.

    ''If I go to the academy today, I will probably get more arrows anyways.''

    Oh, and also, when I woke up yesterday morning, I went to a store to sell Magic Stones,

    [Account balance: 247 RC.]

    I earned a total of 194 RC in the hunt the other day.

    ''Nevertheless, this money is not worth my life.''

    I would have died twice if it weren''t for the artifact - [Redemption Necklace].

    ''Low-ranked and high-ranked adventurers both have to take risks, but low-ranked people get way less money.''

    Life is cruel.

    Sigh.

    ''It''s time to go to Spiral Academy.''

    * *

    After 10 minutes on the bus.

    Yes, from today onwards I don''t have to walk anymore.

    ''For the first time, I enjoyed modern human civilization.''

    The bus here doesn''t run on gasoline like before, but they have improved the car to use Mana and it can fly...

    Rather, about half a meter off the ground so that the car does not shake more so that passengers do not get dizzy and nauseous.

    I''m also a car-sick person so yeah.

    ''Hail to humanity.''

    Suddenly, the passengers on the bus were in awe.

    "Is that Spiral Academy?!"

    "It looks so big and beautiful."

    Yeah, the school grounds are so large that you have to go by school bus. Even walking in the game is exhausting as hell.

    "Oh my God, I want to study there too."

    "Stop daydreaming, only the very best can get into the school."

    "Damnit, that''s awful for me."

    ''Actually, it''s not that hard to get into the school...''

    I didn''t even have Mana before, but I could still enter this school as usual.

    The entrance exam here is quite easy, but it''s important to enter and actually graduate.

    In the first year, there will be a student quality exam, they usually transfer over 100 students each year because of inferior quality.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Maybe my character is also the type of character that will transfer schools eventually because of his pathetic skills and stats.

    The reason for admission is perhaps admiration, delusion, or...

    Perhaps is it because of love?

    My character is probably quite fond of Charlotte so maybe he transferred to this school because of her.

    ''I don''t know.''

    Jokes aside.

    ''It''s important that you can withstand the heat of studying here.''

    ''At this school, most of the students are prodigies.''

    Studying with them will make you feel peer pressure as hell.

    Today is the first gathering of the first-year students, including me of course.

    But it was also a test day to assign students to different classes.

    There are 5 classes for each year, ranging from class E to class A.

    Class A consists of the highest quality students.

    Class E is the contrary, that''s all.

    The school also offers many departments, such as the engineering department, the emergency department, and the magic department, but the most famous of them is the combat department, where I will be entering.

    The fighting ability is the most important factor.

    ''If you want to save others, you must have the ability and strength to save yourself first.''

    ''Otherwise, no one will be saved.''

    That is the principal''s motto.

    Entering the schoolyard, I saw a few supporting characters with a lot of extras, but nowhere could I find the main character.

    The principal, who had influence all over the world and had the power and status equal to that of the Five Grand Dukes and the Magic Council - Thomas Oliver.

    Every step he took emitted a powerful aura.

    He stood on the podium and said:

    "Welcome cadets, teachers in the school, and special guests."

    His words also carried such great weight that no one dared to chat with their friends anymore.

    After a moment of silence, he continued:

    "Today is not the day of the opening ceremony, so I haven''t much to say. I hope you all will find a class worthy of your skills and talents."

    "The class placement test will begin."

    "Now."

    In the spacious schoolyard, they will separate students into groups for testing.

    The first test is about the student''s physique.

    It will give teachers a chance to inspect the overall power of a student.

    [Strength] will be checked via a punching bag.

    No, it''s not like you think it is.

    This punching bag is a high-tech machine that can measure the punch in number correctly and it''s very sturdy.

    Everyone will be called in turn and go up to punch 3 times on it. And the average of all 3 punches will be their official power.

    Someone will say that

    The first punch is a normal punch.

    The second one, cadets may use Mana.

    And the last one, cadets are allowed to use their strongest skill.

    Oh, and I forgot to tell you guys this.

    ''Everyone can have Mana as long as their bodies can [Absorb] it!''

    ''[Mana Core] is obviously important, and some good ones of them are being hidden from the public, such as the [Mana Core] of the Five Grand Dukes.''

    However, they can make the official [Mana Core] of the Magic Council!

    It''s really high-quality and easy to learn.

    Thanks to the founding of the Magic Council, not just Nobles can have a good [Mana Core] but everyone can as long as they can [Absorb] Mana into their bodies.

    If someone couldn''t use Mana, it doesn''t matter.

    [Mana] is not the most important criterion.

    [Technique] and [Strength] are important as well.

    Other extras, including Nobles and commoners, are somewhere around 14-18 on average.

    It means most of them are still at rank F- to rank F+, regardless of their family backgrounds.

    Although the average power of Nobles is higher than that of normal people, some commoners are much stronger than most Nobles.

    Take Haruki for example, he is the main protagonist of the game in case you forgot him.

    ''He is really overpowered!''

    However, he was not a Noble when he was born.

    But thanks to his diligence, he has become a baron.

    "003 - Takahashi Haruki."

    "Third place in the whole freshmen?"

    "Damn."

    "I want to be like him."

    When his name was called, Haruki went up there and punched the first one.

    "26!"

    "Is he a monster??"

    It''s still at the beginning of the main storyline, and his [Strength] stat is already at rank E.

    "The prodigy of a century."

    The superintendent stood there looking surprised.

    And then when he looked at the stats that Haruki had submitted in the report card...

    "!?!"

    ''Maybe he''s shocked because Haruki''s [Mana] is at rank SS+.''

    Next, Haruki infused Mana into his fist.

    A bright aura appeared, blinding those near Haruki.

    And when he punched the sandbag, a tremor spread throughout.

    "31!"

    "What the hell."

    His mana is scary, it goes up to rank D with his Mana.

    "He even skipped rank E+..."

    But that didn''t stop there, this time Haruki used his typical technique in the game.

    Haruki infused Mana into his entire arm.

    Then he closed his eyes and whispered something.

    Probably the command to activate the move.

    "Sky Splitting!"

    It all happened so fast that by the time he finished speaking, the whole sandbag had been split in half immediately.

    "39!"

    "Now it skips rank D and goes up to rank D+!"

    "What the hell?!"

    "Is that even possible?!"

    The character Takahashi Haruki in the game is the ideal model for the Player to follow and learn from.

    A typical overpowered and good protagonist.

    "Haruki cadet, you averaged around 32, rank D-."

    The teacher smiled brightly.

    "You did a great job, keep it up!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Then, he followed the teacher''s instructions and went to the next test site.

    Because he is so strong and good-natured, many people hated him from the cadets to some teachers in the school.

    Most of them were the ones who were jealous of his outstanding talent.

    ''It''s not strange either.''

    ''This school is one of the most competitive environments that ever existed.''

    His life is also quite turbulent because of that.

    The heroines and other characters are in a different group so I don''t know what their situation is.

    ''Probably do as well as in the game, anyways.''

    "500 - Amemura Ryoshu."

    When it was my turn, the teacher looked at me with a little pity.

    It''s probably because I don''t have Mana according to my report card or maybe I ranked nearly last place on the entire list of freshmen.

    "Woah, that guy must be so weak that he ranks that low."

    "I''m even higher than him by about 100 ranks!''

    And like I was saying, the reason that many people don''t have a [Mana Core] is because they can''t absorb Mana into their bodies.

    [Absorb] is just that important.

    ''If you can''t absorb Mana, you can''t make [Mana Core] either.''

    ''Should I use Mana or not?''

    ''Hmm. Let''s just punch first.''

    I punched the punching bag with all my strength.

    "8."

    The crowd went dead silent.

    "Pfft. What the hell."

    "I kept worrying that I was at the bottom."

    "You are lucky, dude."

    Sigh.

    ''Knew it.''

    "He looks ugly and weak as hell."

    Most of the people here are young men, so instead of focusing on their work, most of them prefer to offend weak people.

    Bully here are typically the ones with their Noble background, the ones with dominant strength, or both.

    Sigh.

    ''Whatever.''

    For the second punch, I can use Mana as the rules have stated.

    ''But I won''t!''

    I punched again with all my strength.

    [Host got extreme luck!]

    ''What the hell-?''

    ''Sometimes I just got lucky in one of the most stupid situations.''

    ["Critical Hit" has happened with only 1% "Critical Rate".]

    [Condition has been fulfilled.]

    [Achieved new talent "Weakness Detection" (A-).]

    [Due to the talent "Weakness Detection", "Critical Damage" increased by a half.]

    The punching bag immediately flew backward and slammed onto the wall.

    ''Fantastic, it''s only 1% so I expected little.''

    ''Not only did it happen, but it also gave me a new talent. Sweet.''

    "22!"

    ''So it''s tripled instead of doubled!''

    ''That''s huge!''

    Everyone around me immediately fell silent.

    ''I''ll be able to use the ultimate this time, right?''

    ''Charged Attack. (0.5% x 35s = 17.5%)''

    ''Aim Assisting. (12%)''

    ''Stab. (5%)''

    My body quickly grew stronger over time.

    "Why is he standing there like an idiot?"

    "He must have been using steroids just now, so perhaps he''s numb now."

    "Haha, it''s possible."

    Sigh.

    After setting up, I immediately punched the sandbag.

    ''Don''t forget 1% of my own "Critical Rate" too.''

    When I was close to touching it, I activated the last move of the combo.

    "Re:Counter!"

    ["Critical Hit" has happened.]

    [Due to the talent "Weakness Detection", "Critical Damage" increased by a half.]

    People around me screamed.

    "31!"

    But I didn''t even look back at them and just went to the teacher.

    "Amemura cadet, I''m sorry that I had a critical opinion of you at first!"

    He bowed his head apologetically.

    ''Hmm. This action looks familiar¡­"

    ''Ah, this is the homeroom teacher of Class A in this class!''

    That''s right, this is Takagi Kenzo, a hero of Japan.

    He is currently working at Spiral Academy to learn more about England''s heroes.

    "I was wrong about you."

    "You have an excellent technique."

    "But try to practice more to improve your bare strength! From there, your overall strength will also increase!"

    "Thanks, sir." - I speak slowly and humbly.

    The teacher pointed behind him and said:

    "Now let''s go this way to proceed with the next test."

    A girl with jet-black hair smiling proudly entered my eyes.

    ''Oh, it''s Esther... again.''

    Sigh.

    ''Whatever, I will give her a lesson.''

    "Yes, have a nice day, sir."

    I went to the next test.

 Chapter 11: Bullet Time

    * *

    9.10 P.M.

    All my other physique tests are done now.

    Huff.

    ''That was exhausting!''

    Huff.

    ''Especially the running thingy!''

    Huff.

    I was supposed to run past Esther to tease her from the last time.

    And in case you forgot her, she is the hot-headed noblewoman.

    She has her own background and all sorts of things...

    But if I have to summarize her personality...

    Yeah, an angry noblewoman.

    ''But still... she ran so fast that I could not catch her...''

    I didn''t lose her, okay?

    I just take a step back to make a comeback!

    ''It''s okay, there''s still time for my revenge.''

    I''ll meet her again at the field archery.

    Although the results for endurance and speed are below average, they are still generally not bad enough to be at the bottom of the school.

    On the test of reaction speed, I got a pretty high score, higher than the strength test because my [Perception] is just better than [Strength].

    Looking at the points in my hand, my current score is at rank E-.

    The score is high because my other two skills carry quite well...

    But with this current score, it''s hard to get into class B, not to mention class A.

    But class A will be my primary aim because class A is where all the protagonists study.

    The second and the last test will be based on the weapon we choose.

    The teacher stood there and asked:

    "Ryoshu cadet, which weapon will you choose to test?"

    "I will choose a bow."

    "Huh? Not a sword like your report card?"

    "I decided to choose another weapon."

    "Oh, it''s okay as long as you want."

    "But don''t regret later."

    "Thanks, sir."

    "This way."

    I followed the teacher for a while.

    * *

    Twang!

    I went to the field archery.

    This place is not as noisy as other places, but it is full of the sounds of arrows hitting the target.

    Thwack.

    I looked around to find her.

    "Oh, there she is."

    Esther was already testing her accuracy with her given magic staff when I came here.

    Currently, she has the highest score too.

    ''Damnit? Why is every single one of the main characters so freaking overpowered?.''

    With range weapons, they will test cadets for accuracy and mobility.

    And those are 2 tests respectively for each criterion: hit the center and shoot the moving object.

    I''m currently ranked somewhere in Class D so if I want to get into Class A I have to show my talent in these two lessons.

    In the center shot test, I will have to go to Section 1 to test.

    There are also a lot of other people doing the test.

    Esther now is in first place with 49 points.

    The second place is 2 points away from Esther.

    Roughly speaking, cadets will be tested by shooting arrows or magic projectiles at the target.

    Shoot as close to the center as possible, and if cadets hit a bullseye, cadets will get 10 round points.

    Esther must have only missed the bullseye once.

    ''No wonder she is the valedictorian of the first year.''

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    So I have to hit the bullseye 5 times.

    With the help of [Aim Assisting], this should be quite easy.

    I stand at the distance that the teacher specified, each target will be a little further away from the shooter.

    The first is 50 meters, then 70, 90, 110, and finally up to 150 meters from the target.

    This distance is almost equal to the distance I shot the slime.

    ''Activate [Aim Assisting],''

    A virtual mind appeared before my eyes.

    ''I wonder if this counts as cheating?''

    ''The law only says shoot, doesn''t it say you can''t use skills?''

    ''Never mind, just shoot.''

    ''First shot.''

    Twang.

    "Got it?!"

    "Yo, what the hell?"

    "That guy actually has pretty good accuracy."

    It was the same guys who insulted me in the [Strength] test.

    ''Second shot.''

    Twang

    ''Third shot.''

    Twang!

    ''Fourth shot.''

    Twang!!

    ''The last shot was so close.''

    "What the fu-? 4 times in a row?"

    "He may get 50 points!"

    Everyone was amazed at my score.

    It''s because I have a special skill in shooting in the heart that everything is so easy.

    This skill is really hard to get.

    Imagine having to hit something with a bow from a distance of over 100 with proficiency below E- to get this skill.

    That''s something not everyone can do.

    I was just a bit lucky there.

    And even if they had a new skill, they wouldn''t be able to confirm it right away like me.

    Because they have to go to a place where they can check the status board.

    Like at the Adventure Guild facilities or at the Spiral Academy itself.

    If you don''t have that skill, it''ll be difficult to hit the bullseye.

    By then I might have to use bugs, but even then I''ll lose a lot of good glitches.

    ''Okay, the last shot is pretty far.''

    ''150 meters... this is my first time shooting from this far.

    ''I don''t know if I can do it or not...''''

    ''I wonder if arrows can fly far away?''

    ''Hmm...''

    ''Charged Attack.''

    Standing for a moment, I took a deep breath.

    Once the move was fully charged, I tried to use the [Lightning Reflexes] ability to sense my surroundings.

    The wind is blowing slightly in the opposite direction.

    But if I finish charging, I''m not afraid of the wind anymore.

    ''My arrow will definitely hit the target no matter what.''

    Huff.

    I exhale evenly and:

    ''Fifth shot.''

    Twang.

    The arrow blows out and flies straight to the target without slowing down.

    ''Go for it.''

    Thwack.

    The target was pushed back quite a distance.

    "What the fuc-!!!"

    "YO, THAT''S INSANE!"

    "He hit the freaking bullseye!!!"

    [Your potential "Archery" has ranked up to E-]

    [Acquired skill "Bullet Time" (Lv.1).]

    Since during the test I kept shooting the bow with the highest possible efficiency, this skill also gained more Experience than I expected!

    My score quickly went up to 50. And on the scoreboard, I surpassed Esther.

    ''Damn, my face looks so different from when I used to be handsome.''

    It did change the look... And a bit of atmosphere, right?

    Tell me that I''m not being delusional.

    ''I desperately need to raise my [Charisma] stat as soon as possible.''

    "So one more test is over."

    The score just now made me jump from class D to class C.

    Ignoring those who admired the score I got, I went to section 2.

    * *

    By section 2, I see targets floating in the sky at different speeds.

    This test cadets can select on a scale of difficulty from 1 to 10.

    The closer to 10, the higher the difficulty.

    And 10 floating targets will fly randomly at high speed corresponding to the difficulty.

    In return, in 2 minutes, how many targets you hit will be multiplied by that level of difficulty.

    For example,

    Hit 10 targets on difficulty 1 for 10 points.

    And if you hit 5 targets on difficulty 4, you get 20 points.

    Similar to the calculation for the number of targets hit, the remaining time (unit: second) will also be multiplied by the difficulty level.

    But keep in mind that if the difficulty goes up by just 1 level.

    However, it is like a completely different test.

    In return, cadets only need to hit the target, there is no need to hit the bullseye, but if they hit the bullseye, there will be a bonus point.

    Despite all of that, in this moving object shooting test, I will choose the highest difficulty to earn as many points as possible.

    I press the number 10 on the board near the designated firing spot.

    10 targets appear and start moving.

    "Was it that guy just now?"

    "Difficulty 10?"

    "That guy is crazy."

    "Who does he think he is?"

    "Even the best archers of this course only pick 8 or 9."

    "Esther only picked 9, but he doesn''t even know how to measure his limits."

    "My Esther got first place with 230 points, 12 points ahead of second place!"

    At the highest difficulty, the speed of each fly will be quite fast, about 5m/s and it will move in a random pattern.

    Countdown appears and about 5 seconds to count officially.

    At first, I closed my eyes, some found it difficult to understand, and some even laughed because they thought I must have regretted showing off so much.

    I realized that the others only shot one at a time so even though it was more accurate, it still took a long time.

    I will do the opposite. I''ll hit all 10 at once!

    Suddenly, I got into a preparation stance.

    I use the skill "Charged Attack" to increase the damage to penetrate 10 targets.

    Next, I activated "Aim Assisting" to try to hit the center.

    After observing for about 35 seconds, I recognized its pattern.

    The pattern is random, but sometimes all 10 targets will gather at a single point for about 0.05 seconds every 5 seconds.

    It''s all thanks to [Super Memory], [Lightning Reflexes], and SS+ rank [Alteration] that I could recognize that super horrible pattern.

    I waited patiently for a while.

    Huff.

    "Bullet Time."

    Everything moves more slowly, this feeling is almost the same as when I got [Lightning Reflexes].

    ["Bullet Time" (Lv.1)

    Upon active, the time will be slowed down by 5 times in 1 whole second.

    Usage: Three times in one hour. (2/3)]

    Twang.

    The arrow didn''t hit anything because I shot too late.

    Many people made fun of me but I didn''t mind it, I did it again.

    ''Again!''

    This time I just need to recharge for about 30 seconds.

    "28.. 29.. 30.''

    Thwang!

    ''Tsk. It''s a little too early this time.''

    Huff.

    ''Again, this is your last chance.''

    This time I only need to load exactly 25 seconds.

    "23.. 24.. 25!"

    ''BULLET TIME.''

    Everything suddenly went slower as if I had entered the sped-up world again.

    But this time, I had more reflexes and got used to the new skill.

    ''I started to get the hang of it, I just need to be a bit more precise!''

    When the arrow is released, everything is still within the [Bullet Time] time.

    Twang.

    The arrow flies slowly out and hits the first target.

    But the next thing I didn''t expect was.

    ["Critical Hit" has happened.]

    [Due to the talent "Weakness Detection", "Critical Damage" increased by a half.]

    Arrows instantly gain power and fly 3 times faster.

    After [Bullet Time] expires,

    All 10 targets were penetrated nearly at the same time.

    My points have been calculated.

    "+100 points for hitting 10 targets!"

    "+100 points with 10 seconds left!"

    "+10 points for hitting 10 targets at once!"

    "And finally +90 points for hitting the center 9 times!"

    "Total Score: 300!"

    My surroundings suddenly became eerily silent.

    Huff.

    "WHAT THE FUC-"

    "HE TOOK THE FIRST PLACE FROM ESTHER WHITE AGAIN!?!"

    "THAT''S NOT EVEN FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE!"

    "DAMN, HE IS SO LIT THAT MY EYES ARE BURNING!"

    "That''s not what I mean but¡­"

    "Still, HE IS SO LIT!"

    "Bro is so cool!"

    People nearby looked at me with admiration, and some looked at me with bitterness.

    And there is one more character.

    Esther was looking at me with jealous and indignant eyes.

    I forgot that this is the nature of Esther, a competitive person.

    <You have interfered with the "Main Storyline"!>

    <You now will be regarded as the antagonist of the entity named "Esther"!>

    ''What is happening?''

    And that''s not all.

    {You are being observed by the Higher Beings.}

 Chapter 12: Roles

    ''What? Higher Beings?''

    ''Is that even in the game?''

    I feel like the first time I used a bug in this world. There was also something looking straight at me from the unknown.

    But now it feels like there is an entire force observing and evaluating me closely.

    ''I don''t feel very secure...''

    My breathing suddenly became heavier unconsciously.

    <Acquired 50 System Exp.>

    <Your authority "System" has enough Exp to level up!>

    ''Huh?''

    I have forgotten about that authority¡­

    ''System, lemme check my Authority.''

    ----Authority----

    [System] (Lv.1)

    Description: given by ??????

    -Status Bar (Lv.1)

    ????????

    -Appraisal (Lv.1)

    ????????

    ----------

    ''No, it''s still the same.''

    ''I heard that my [System] has leveled up or something like that.''

    ''So what just happened?''

    <00:10:00>

    <00:09:59>

    So it will take about 10 minutes to update the System to level 2.

    I should get out of here quickly, too.

    Esther, that girl is glaring at me.

    Why is she suddenly even more angry?

    ''Ah, perhaps she only found out now that I am also in first place in Section 1.''

    In the game, she is one of those people who is very arrogant and is always confident that she is at the top in everything she loves.

    If there is anyone who is better at studying and more accurate than her, she will absolutely hate that person and will try her best to defeat him.

    Not with a peaceful solution, of course...

    She will do anything to defeat that person at all costs.

    At all costs.

    If I haven''t emphasized it clearly enough,

    AT ALL COSTS.

    Does this make my life more difficult?

    Yes. It does.

    Is this that bad?

    Absolutely yes.

    BUT does it have any benefit?

    Certainly... not.

    Rather, I don''t know yet.

    When I became the first place, Esther already marked me as her rival.

    That''s just her competitive nature...

    ''So why did the [System] mark my role as an antagonist?''

    At least from Esther''s point of view, I''m an enemy now...

    Damn, I''m not that worthy.

    There''s also a reward or something, but I haven''t seen the benefit yet...

    Turns out that my meddling in the main storyline will also be rewarded with more rewards than I thought.

    This is a good thing, isn''t it?

    Like suddenly I have the cheats out of nowhere?

    Maybe it''s not even a cheat.

    The reason I could beat Esther is that it only tests purely accuracy and maneuverability.

    And if I were to fight Esther 1vs1, I wouldn''t even make a scratch on her, let alone win.

    Or maybe I would be in a hospital right now...

    Speaking of hospitals... Even if the world has healing magic or [Health Potion], it''s still necessary to go to a hospital.

    Because there are still commoners anyway.

    And secondly, people with Mana can still be sick and injured as usual... and the cost of buying a potion is still more expensive than going to hospital.

    They just have higher regeneration than commoners.

    And of course, those with Mana cores will be recognized as Awakeners according to the Magic Council.

    [Awakeners] have to submit to a law to protect every [Non-Awakeners] and even not to harm any of the non-awakeners.

    Since non-awakened people don''t have Mana, they are very vulnerable.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Sometimes infusing too much Mana into the body could cause them to suffer severe injury or even the worst case is they will die.

    Therefore, the Government has to cooperate with the Magic Council in enforcing the laws.

    The government is like my old world, controlling the laws and situation of the country.

    The Royal Family and The Five Grand Dukes are outside forces, but they do not have as much political authority as the government.

    However, they were one of Britain''s leading fighting forces.

    Back in the day, they also contributed hugely to the World War 3, the War against the monster forces behind the Temple.

    ''A bit too much information?''

    ''But it''s okay-''

    ''Yo, The angry noblewoman is looking at me furiously¡­ I gotta go now.''

    Trying to ignore Esther''s hateful stare, I walked over to the scoreboard.

    ''My score is barely enough to enter class A.''

    And that was the last place in Class A, of course.

    But anyways, I got into class A.

    Many people around me admired my performance just now.

    ''Yes, that''s right, breaking the old record.''

    [Aim Assisting] is a freaking cheat. I''m telling you guys.

    Even though they were at the bottom of the class, Class A is still Class A, they are all the prodigies of the entire country.

    But no one came near me to talk to me.

    Probably because my [Charisma] was so short that no one came to congratulate me...

    ''I''m used to not having friends anyways.''

    Suddenly, a familiar voice rang next to my ear.

    "Hehe, you''re pretty talented, aren''t you?"

    I turned behind and saw the face of a girl close to me.

    "Can you keep your distance for a bit?"

    It was the girl next door, or rather, my old neighbor.

    She giggled and said:

    "It''s only been a few days, but I''ve seen you again. You miss me a lot, don''t you?"

    "I''m alright."

    "Hehehe, that''s so sad."

    I rolled my eyes hearing that and asked her:

    "So what are you doing here?"

    "Just kidding, I''m just standing here looking at the scoreboard like you, neighbor-san."

    "Where are you on the scoreboard?"

    "Hehe, you want to know my name, right?" - She smirked suspiciously.

    "Yeah, I do... Anyways, thanks for coming to talk to me."

    "It''s nothing, hehe. Well, and if you wanna know my name."

    She stood there looking right at my eyes and said:

    "My name is-"

    <00:00:01>

    <00:00:00>

    <Your authority "System" has leveled up to Lv.2>

    A stabbing pain hit me so I couldn''t hear her say anything.

    Along with that, a crowd came towards us, causing me to lose track of her.

    My mind spun around like baffling.

    After a while, I was back to normal while I was being swept away by the crowd to the schoolyard yet another time.

    Sigh.

    ''So I still don''t know her name.''

    ''Great.''

    Sigh.

    ''I hope I can see her again.''

    I''m quite disappointed that I lost my first friend just like that.

    ''And the reason is so stupid.''

    Sigh.

    ''I gotta admit that girl looks familiar.''

    Now I''ll check to see if the system has anything new, while I wait for the other teachers to talk nonsense.

    ''System, let me check my [Authority]''

    Imagine calling the System to check the System...

    It''s kinda ironic, right?

    ----Authority----

    [System] (Lv.2) (!)

    Description: given by ??????????

    -Status Bar (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2) (!)

    ???????????

    -Appraisal (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2) (!)

    ???????????

    -Quest (Lv.1) (New!)

    ???????????

    ----------

    ''Yo.''

    ''Yo. Yo.''

    ''YOOOOOOOOOOO!''

    ''I don''t have a cheat! I AM THE CHEAT!!''

    ''Not literally, but still¡­.''

    ''LET''S GOOOOOOOOOOO.''

    Even though I was so delighted that I could even shout right now.

    But I don''t want anybody to look at me disgustedly, thinking that I''m insane.

    I resist the urge to do that here.

    ''So I can do a quest now.''

    ''But what are the benefits of leveling up [Appraisal] and [Status Bar]?''

    ''Hmm. Let''s check the easy one first.''

    Also, it has been a long time since I last checked my [Status Bar].

    ''Status Bar.''

    This is gonna be lengthy for sure, but it will be more exciting sometimes right?

    Right?

    [Amemura Ryoshu] (Human)

    <Role: Esther''s Antagonist>

    * Status Bar *

    [Mana: 40 (D+) ¡ú 40.5 (C-)]

    -Main Stats (!)

    [Strength: 7.5 ¡ú 7.55 (Unranked) (!)

    Endurance: 8.2 ¡ú 8.3 (Unranked) (!)

    Agility: 6.9 ¡ú 6.969 (Unranked) (!)

    Perception: 10.1 ¡ú 10.17 (F-)] (!)

    -Secondary Stats

    [Charisma 2 ¡ú 2.15 (Unranked) (!)

    Regeneration 41 (C-)

    Intelligence 1.5 ¡ú 2.3 (Unranked)] (!)

    -Extra Stats

    [Alteration: 90 (SS+)]

    * Trait *

    [Basic Mana Core] (F-)

    [High-Temperature Resistance] (Low)

    * Techniques *

    [Cooking] (Apprentice)

    ¡ú [Foraging]

    * Potential *

    [Swordsmanship] (F-)

    -Stab (Lv.1)

    [Mana] (F)

    -Mana Concentrating (Lv.1)

    -Mana Transforming (Lv.1)

    -Mana Infusing (Lv.2)

    [Magic] (F)

    -Fire Magic (Apprentice) (+5% DMG)

    [Archery] (E-) (!)

    -Charged Attack (Lv.3)

    -Aim Assisting (Lv.2)

    -Bullet Time (Lv.1)

    [The Art of Dart Rope] (F-)

    [Spatial Awareness] (E+)

    * Talent *

    [Super Memory] (B-)

    -Nearly Cannot Forget

    [Lightning Reflexes] (C)

    -Sense Enhancement

    -Death Sense

    [Weakness Detection] (A-) (New!)

    -1,2,3,4. All Set!

    -Headshot

    -Watch out! ]

    ''That''s pretty long...''

    ''And what is the <Role> thingy?''

    Like really, in the game, there is no such thing as a Role System.

    ''Maybe this is related to the [Status Bar] Lv.2?''

    ----Role----

    <Esther''s Antagonist>

    You will be the main competitor of Esther.

    Esther''s Friendship: 0

    --------

    ''What is the point of this freaking roleplaying things, System?!?!?!''

    <System will give you a reward based on how you interact with characters in this world.>

    ''Oh, that''s good.''

    ''But still, what kind of reward..?''

    <The Host has been given 5 CP>

    ''What is CP?''

    Is that roleplaying or something like that?

    <CP is Character Point>

    <It can be used to intervene with the Character.>

    ''Sounds vague enough... I''ll try it after I go back to the dorms.''

    ''Oh, yeah, I haven''t checked my new talent yet!''

    ----Talents----

    [Weakness Detection] (A-) (New!)

    Description: The God of Critical Hit!

    -1,2,3,4. All Set!

    Increase "Critical Damage" by 50%.

    -Headshot

    Increase "Critical Damage" depending on the opponent''s "Weak Point".

    -Watch Out!

    Increase 10% "Critical Rate" when you are doing a "Stealth Attack".

    When that attack is a "Critical Hit", the next use of the skill on the same opponent will increase by an additional 10%.

    The effect will stack until the next attack is not a "Critical Hit" or "Stealth Attack" anymore.

    --------

    ''Damn, even the talent is insanely good.''

    ''Today is a good day, isn''t it?''

    "I thought it was enough to finish the first day by just taking the test¡­"

    "Those teachers are saying too much useless information."

    Some students near me were complaining. I could even see the tired face of those guys.

    ''Get used to it, damn children.''

    ''Nowadays, they could not even listen to someone thoroughly.''

    Well, perhaps they don''t have [Status Bar] like me so it''s true that they''re bored.

    ''Heehee.''

    * *

    09.00 P.M.

    I listened to the teachers saying something until 3 P.M.

    ''I don''t know why they can say that lengthy.''

    After finishing the procedures to enter the dormitory again.

    Of course, I won''t talk about the fact that I have to go to the house to move things and things because... I don''t have too much property anyway.

    "But I also took the time to buy some cheap ingredients for the future."

    [Account balance: 68 RC.]

    It''s too late, I have already lost more than a few hundred dollars in an afternoon.

    Ah, and I also conveniently went to the gym last time - [Muscle Number One].

    And this time I got the quest already!

    I basically talked to the manager at that gym again.

    This time he was quite familiar with me because I went two times in a row... It''s not because the gym was so empty that he remembers people''s faces!

    I got a pretty cool hidden quest I always wanted.

    [Secret Side Quest: Muscle Number One (0/?)

    -Content:

    10 push-ups (0/10)

    10 sit-ups (0/10)

    10 squats (0/10)

    1km run (0/1)

    -Reward:

    [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion (D)].

    ]

    This quest is the must-have quest at the beginning of the game.

    ''I should do it now.''

    * *

    10.30 P.M.

    Huff.

    Huff.

    Huff.

    ''Running is so freaking exhausting¡­''

    [0.9/1km]

    Huff.

    [1/1km]

    ''Finally!''

    ''I''m tired as hell.''

    ----Reward----

    [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion (D)]

    --------

    ----Items----

    [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion] (D)

    Description: Made by a very famous alchemist.

    -Growth Boosting

    The consumer has a 130% increase in the training speed for the "Main Stats" in 5 hours.

    --------

    ''Is it easy? It''s not too easy either.''

    ''Where the hell am I on campus now?''

    ''Okay, I''ll try to practice Lightning Magic.''

    Entering the nearby forest, I took out the [Lightning Magic] from the space ring.

    ''I think this is a nice way to learn new magic.''

 Chapter 13: Esther

    Huff.

    ''Not again dude.''

    I failed to transform my pure Mana into lightning Mana.

    ''It''s so hard to get the hang of it.''

    Even with the help of [Lightning Magic Book], I still cannot understand the basic principle of it.

    ''But I think it is still worth learning it.''

    [Acquired skill "Mana Maintaining" (Lv.1).]

    ''So now I can maintain the fire on the arrow for 0.1 seconds longer.''

    I kept practicing for a bit more.

    And until I checked the time.

    [11:30 P.M.]

    ''It''s already this late?''

    ''Woah, that was fast.''

    I have leveled up both my [Mana Concentrating] and [Mana Transforming] to Lv.2

    ----Potential-----

    [Mana] (F)

    Description: You are a beginner in using Mana

    -Mana Concentrating (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2) (!)

    Efficiency (+5 ¡ú +7%)

    -Mana Transforming (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2) (!)

    Efficiency (+2.5 ¡ú +4%)

    -Mana Infusing (Lv.2)

    Efficiency +2.5%

    -Mana Maintaining (Lv.1) (New!)

    Efficiency +5%

    --------

    I tried injecting fire Mana into my fist and found that the Mana concentration speed and Mana conversion speed were a bit faster.

    ''Now every evening I have to practice a little more Mana.''

    ''Go home...''

    ''Let''s just go back to my room to sleep.''

    ''Today is the end of the first week since I have been in this world.''

    ''Time does fly.''

    * *

    (Day 8)

    6.00 A.M.

    Today is the opening day of the academy.

    However, the actual first day at the academy will be August 28 because the academy wants to give cadets time to rest before the beginning of the school year.

    And it''s also an opportunity for cadets to get to know other students in class.

    Going down to the schoolyard, I met all the members of class 1-A.

    There are a lot of main characters here, including Volkov Katia, Esther White, Charlotte Williams, Takahashi Haruki, and one more.

    That character is also a main character.

    But unlike every other main character, he previously wasn''t in Haruki''s friendship group.

    It wasn''t until today that they talked and got to know each other for the first time.

    His full name is Ryan Jackson, a ginger-haired guy with a bit of a sense of humor and rudeness.

    In general, a quite stereotypical character who is a friend of the male character in every novel.

    And speaking of which, fun fact: this game is an adaptation of the novel with the same name.

    But the adaptation was so good that it overshadowed the original product.

    Going back to Ryan Jackson, his family background is not big, he is roughly the same as Haruki.

    Although he was not born rich, unlike Haruki who made his own fortune, Ryan''s father was the one who became Baron.

    The two of them also sympathize with each other quite a lot because they are both the only male main characters and have backgrounds that cannot be compared to their three friends.

    I also sympathize with them because I know how bad it is to be poor.

    [Account balance: 66 RC.]

    Sigh.

    ''I hate poverty.''

    ''Oh, that angry noblewoman is looking at me again.''

    ''Should I tease her a bit, no?''

    I smiled at her, then she noticed that I smiled at her.

    As I observed her, her countenance was a tempest of emotions, but it was the unmistakable aura of anger that clung to them like a dark cloud.

    Her once serene face was now contorted, lines etched deeply into her forehead, and her brows furrowed in a fierce scowl.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    The fire in her eyes burned brightly, ablaze with intensity, radiating a rage that threatened to explode at any moment.

    ''Was my face looks that bad?!?''

    <You have successfully provoked the entity named "Esther"!>

    <Esther''s Friendship -10>

    <The Host has been given 30 CP.>

    ''Damn, that was easy enough.''

    The opening ceremony started, and I sat down and continued surfing the [Status Bar] to see if there was anything new.

    [CP: 20.]

    ''I still don''t know how to use it..''

    ''I will skip it for now.''

    ''Oh, how about [Appraisal]?''

    I took the mask from the ring and,

    ''Appraisal.''

    ----Equipments----

    [Hidden Mask] (C) (!)

    Description: Crafted by a Legendary Blacksmith!

    -Gorgeous

    Increases the "Charisma" stat by 5 units when equipped.

    -Hidden

    When you infuse Mana into the mask, the User erases a portion of your existence.

    -Fear

    Upon active, give all the surrounding enemies a "Fearful" effect.

    Restrictions:

    Can only be used on enemies with the same or 2 ranks above compared to the User''s rank.

    Cooldown: 20 seconds.

    Fearful:

    At first, enemies will be stunned for 2 seconds.

    Along with that, "Defense" and "Agility" will be decreased by 20% for 15 seconds.

    -??

    -??

    --------

    ''What the fuc-''

    ''How many hidden functions does this item have?''

    ''Damn that old man.''

    ''All his crafted items are so freaking overpowered.''

    ''And damn, [Fear]...''

    The name is short... but it makes everyone looking at it feel frightening as hell.

    ''I can activate [Fear] in a lot of sticky situations.''

    ''Such as being trapped or cornered by enemies or I want to confront enemies stronger than me.''

    ''But this could be misunderstood a lot.''

    [Restrictions:

    Can only be used on enemies with the same or 2 ranks above compared to the User''s rank.]

    In the game, there indeed is a rank system but I forgot it because this is not the most important thing.

    Even the academy has a different ranking system... I think its only use is at the Adventure Guild.

    ''What is the rank of an ?entity?''

    Hmm...

    ''System, what is my current rank?''

    [Rank: Unranked (8.24725).]

    After calculating a bit, I figured it out.

    ''I think it''s the average rank of all stats in [Main Stat].''

    ''But why not [Extra Stat] or [Secondary Stat]?''

    Maybe it doesn''t determine their pure power.

    So now I''m currently at rank [Unranked] because there is only my [Perception] that reaches the F-realm.

    Ranks are F-, F, F+,... SSS-, SSS+, etc.

    Realms are F, E, D, C,... SS, SSS, etc.

    ''2 ranks above'' means that I can still use this function on rank F enemies.

    If I reach rank F-, I will be able to use it on rank F+ enemies.?

    ''It can scale with my power.''

    After the grand (boring) opening ceremony finished, many seniors were recruiting new students to join their clubs.

    Several clubs were inviting freshmen such as Hunter Club, Archery Club, Music Club, Modern Dance Club, etc.

    ''And besides that, there are also a lot of strange clubs: Beauty Club, Royal Club, even Savior Club.''

    ''What is a Savior Club anyways?''

    Joining the club will have certain benefits, so I plan to do that too.

    Some clubs will involve some characters related to the main storyline and of course, the main characters also take part quite a lot.

    But the clubs haven''t opened registration yet, they''ve only just come to announce they''re about to apply.

    Now students will be able to go back to the dormitory or somewhere on campus.

    I went to the academy''s dormitory, which had only been lightly cleaned yesterday.

    ''Today, students will also receive extra private keys with the fingerprint and face identification codes and other things.''

    After cleaning the room, I looked at the room and took a shower first before going to the canteen to eat and then going to the gym or something like that.

    ''In the cafeteria this early, there will be only me.''

    Because I don''t have a lot of shit to do and prepare like literally everybody in this school.

    ''I don''t even know if I have private property or not.''

    I went in and chose Vietnamese bread.

    ''It''s kinda cheap anyways.''

    I used my watch to swipe through the machine to get money.

    [-1 RC.]

    After that, I went out to the cafeteria and found a place to sit down and watch the sky while eating.

    Suddenly Esther came and sat right next to me.

    ''What kind of development is this?''

    She said nothing.

    ''This is even scarier than her cursing me.''

    A long while later, the atmosphere was still so quiet.

    I stood up and sat a distance away from her, but later she deliberately sat close to me.

    ''What the fuc...?''

    ''Give me a break please madam?.''

    I stood up again and sat farther away than before.

    After a while, I turned around and couldn''t see her anywhere.

    ''Thankfully, I don''t know if anything happened.''

    I was about to take another bite of cake when I saw Esther squatting and looking straight at my face.

    ''???''

    ''Damn, I nearly scream out like a girl.''

    Sigh.

    I don''t want to talk about anything, but if I keep going like this, I''ll have a stroke.

    "What have you been doing all this time?" - said Esther.

    "¡­"

    "Now you won''t say anything?"

    "..."

    <Esther''s Friendship -1>

    <The Host has been given 1 CP.>

    Turns out it doesn''t give as much...

    Tsk.

    "I want to ask, why did you finish packaging so early?"

    ''Silence is still an easy CP farming method though.''

    Sigh.

    But now I have to answer or it will be really rude.

    "I don''t have any money. I''m poor."

    <Esther''s Friendship -1>

    <The Host has been given 1 CP.>

    ''Again, but it seems like it''s not as effective as before or something?''

    At first, Esther''s friendship was deducted by 10 points, and it gave me 30 CP, but...

    It''s probably because it''s not as effective as if I used a face with my [Charisma] index below 3.

    Ouch, that hurts.

    She was surprised and said:

    "Why have you changed so much? Especially your face-"

    "Because of many problems."

    "What problems? Lovesick?"

    I couldn''t believe that Esther could say that and still have a blank emotion on her beautiful face.

    Sigh.

    "You don''t need to care about my face or my love life."

    "I don''t know if you''re joking or not."

    ''We''re not that close to begin with.''

    Sigh.

    "I don''t know either, but-"

    "Although I don''t know why you''ve changed so much since middle school, to be more specific, from the moment you confessed your love to her." - She interrupted me,

    Even though I don''t know how it happened, hearing other people talk about that kind of memory made me feel embarrassed all over.

    ''Curse you, my character!''

    She continued:

    "By the way, do you still like her?"

    "I don''t,"

    "Then why is your face-"

    ''Damn, my face again?!''

    ''Now I feel offended as hell.''

    "Stop repeating it. I said I have my own reasons."

    "But you don''t want to have a relationship with me, I''m a very famous person you know."

    Damn, do you have celebrity disease? I thought about it but I couldn''t say that.

    It''s a bit too rude.

    "No, if you don''t like me, why should I do that?"

    She was surprised.

    "How did you know that?"

    Damn this girl.

    "That''s the reason, and because I''m a commoner, orphan, non-awakener, etc."

    ''I have no Mana theoretically so I''m a non-awakener.''

    "You''re really straightforward. But how could you beat me in the accuracy test though?"

    "Since middle school, I''ve known the truth that you sure as hell despise me. Plus, why would I tell you the reason I''m better and stronger than you."

    "You lowly peasant! And now you''re not even trying to be friends with me either?"

    "Yep."

    <Esther''s Friendship -2>

    <The Host has been given 2 CP.>

    ''Keep working, my CP farm machine.''

    "Even the fact that I know about your confession to Charlotte?"

    "I don''t care about that, but do you want to hurt your best friend?"

    "¡­"

    "Then it''s over, right? I know you don''t like this, but goodbye."

    Sigh.

    I also forgot that I have to apologize for that confession...

    "By the way... about your best friend, Charlotte... I''m sorry."

    "Sorry for what?"

    "For bothering her."

    "¡­"

    "I don''t like Charlotte anymore. That''s the truth, she is just a normal person to me from now on."

    After talking, I went back to the bedroom.

    <Esther''s Friendship +1>

    <The Host has been given 5 CP.>

    ''???''

    ''So politeness has its own advantages, I can''t just abuse that method anymore.''

    I lay on my bed and checked my Status Bar a bit.

    [Esther''s Friendship: -13]

    [CP: 44]

    Damn, number 13... So damn unlucky...

    But I have quite a lot of CP already.

    ''Hmm. There''s supposed to be a class chat, right?''

    But somehow no one added me to the group, made friends, or texted me...

    Hmm... not so strange...

    I just got into class and I''m already isolated... damnit... not again...

    Although I already predicted the results, especially the reaction of many people yesterday and today.

    ''It''s probably because I''m so ugly...''

    ''Damn, why am I so insecure? It must be because I am a teenager now... right?''

 Chapter 14: That Guy

    * *

    10.30 P.M.

    Today is the opening ceremony of the Spiral Academy - my life goal.

    Actually, I want to be the number one cadet!

    It wasn''t a blind hope though.

    I have always tried my best to study and be the best student in all the subjects.

    In addition, I have also practiced magic really hard!

    So yeah, in the future, I will definitely be known across the world!

    Everybody will recognize me every time I appear and save people!

    I''m the strongest Wind Mage, the one and only daughter of the White Grand Duke Family, and the second most beautiful girl in the Spiral Academy.

    I''m Esther White!

    I have a lot of good friends.

    One of my best friends is Takahashi Haruki, the boy that I currently like... ahem. He is polite, nice, funny, and... handsome... ahem.

    I accidentally bumped into him while I was going to the extra classes to study.

    He was really kind.

    He even gave me a hand when I fell down.

    Only after talking with him did I learn that he, himself, is a baron!

    I was really surprised to know that he has achieved everything on his own because his parents have all passed away...

    His life was really misfortunate... However, instead of giving up, he decided to stand up and surprise everyone!

    His parents would definitely take pride in him!

    I''m also really proud of him.

    Therefore, he is my number one motivation and aspiration.

    ''Thinking of him also makes me really elated too.''

    ''I kinda missed him.''

    Ahem.

    The next one is Volkov Katia, the most beautiful girl in our group, she is the princess of Russia. I have known her since I was very young along with Charlotte.

    Charlotte Williams, the second child in the Williams Royal Family, is also a really kind, and beautiful girl. She is the only girl whose beauty I can compare to.

    But I''m a bit more energetic so I won against her. Heehee.

    Moreover, she also admitted that I''m more beautiful than her so yeah there was nothing I could do anyway.

    When I received the admission letter from the academy with the highest score, my father was proud of me!

    And he even let me have a big party with my best friends!

    That day was really, really fun.

    It was gonna be the best day of my life.

    But until I met that guy.

    When my friends and I were going home after a long day hanging out together.

    I accidentally bumped into some guy and almost fell.

    But this time, Haruki caught me beforehand.

    "Are you okay? Esther-san?"

    "Haruki... thank you."

    "It''s nothing really." - said Haruki.

    ''Who did I bump into?''

    ''Ah... why does that guy look so gloomy, dirty, and disgusting?''

    He put on a cheap hoodie and a weird mask, so I couldn''t see his face.

    ''Damn that guy.''

    "You peasant, what are you doing walking around!?"

    He still looked calm.

    "I didn''t do it on purpose." - said that filthy guy.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    "You don''t know who I am, do you?"

    He made me furious.

    And also that creepy-looking mask,

    "And what is that weird mask?"

    Haruki tried to dissuade me.

    "Come on, Esther-san."

    ''But I still need to teach these stupid commoners a lesson!''

    "Haruki, get out of my way so I can deal with this idiot."

    "Esther, stop it."

    The most taciturn girl in my friend group, Katia raised her voice, making me a bit surprised.

    "We''re standing in the middle of the road." - She continued.

    "Stop messing around with people weaker than you, Esther."

    ''Damn, if you are not my best friend!''

    "Whatever."

    Talking against her is gonna make my head explode!

    ''This is the relationship between the two of us.''

    ''She is really arrogant and superior to other people. Thus, sometimes I don''t like her at all.''

    Charlotte gently gave that guy her hand, intending to help him.

    She is nice in all kinds of situations, and also she is really innocent.

    "I''m sorry for bumping into you." - said Charlotte.

    And not just there, she continued asking about his well-being.

    "Are you okay?"

    But that guy just rudely stood up by himself.

    ''Sheesh, I really hate that kind of man.''

    "I''m alright." - said the dumbass.

    But then suddenly.

    "Ryoshu?" Charlotte said a familiar name.

    "Huh?"

    Then not only me but also my entire group was dumbfounded.

    We were staring at that guy.

    ''I need to take his mask out to check something.''

    I flashed toward him and took out his mask so quickly that he couldn''t do anything.

    But then I saw his face.

    His face was really... how to say that...

    Oh yeah,

    "Why does your freaking face look so disgusting?"

    But then Haruki tried to salvage the confusing situation.

    "Um, well I gotta admit that you look really different from a week ago."

    I then told Charlotte that,

    "I cannot believe that this idiot tried to be your boyfriend, Charlotte."

    Yes, Ryoshu is the random commoner confessing to Charlotte a few weeks ago.

    ''He must be so lovesick that he even ruined his old face.''

    "So you were that sad when being rejected?"

    He seemed speechless.

    Many people on the street were looking at us.

    "No."

    He acted too poorly.

    "Are you guys done yet?"

    ''Oh, so he is fleeing now.''

    "Goodbye."

    ''Not too fast!''

    I tried to catch his forearm,

    "Hey, hey, where are you going? I''m not done with you yet."

    But abruptly this time he could see my movement and hold my forearm instead.

    And at the same time, he reached out and took back his mask.

    "Esther White." - He glowered coldly at her.

    "You wanna start something?"

    ''His voice is so scary.''

    I couldn''t move or say anything.

    He immediately turned around, put his mask on, and went straight forward without looking back.

    After a while, I could move my body again.

    I ran as fast as possible to his place.

    However,

    He whispered something tiny and then the next moment, he totally disappeared.

    I''m not kidding... I could not even sense his existence.

    It really startled me.

    "Where is he?"

    "That freaking bastard!"

    ''Damn, he turned up on the best day of my life!''

    "I hate you!"

    "Calm down, Esther-san."

    Haruki tried to settle me down. He was so gentle as always.

    "Yeah, I should forget about him."

    But everything didn''t stop there.

    I met Ryoshu again in the running test.

    He was trying his best to overrun me,

    "But that''s impossible, you commoner."

    Hehe, looking at him being a clown is really entertaining to watch.

    When I finished my running test, I tried to hide from him.

    ''Finally, I could feel my everyday peace."

    "Now I will finish all the remaining tests with the highest score!"

    Section 1 was easy enough, but my last shot was just a little away from the center.

    But anyway, I still scored 49 points!

    I''m even 2 points ahead of second place!

    Hehehe, Section 2 will be a piece of cake too.

    ''I will choose my highest difficulty just like at home, difficulty 9!''

    And I have scored a new personal best - 230 points!

    ''I will rank first in class A for sure.''

    "Difficulty 10?"

    ''Huh?''

    ''What?''

    ''Difficulty 10?''

    I turned around and found the person who was being talked behind his back.

    "That guy is crazy."

    "Who does he think he is?"

    "Even the best archers of this course only pick 8 or 9."

    I went to his place and looked at him.

    "Esther only picked 9, but he doesn''t even know how to measure his limits."

    "Esther got first place with 230 points, 12 points ahead of second place!"

    ''Who is that?''

    ''Why is he wearing the mask?''

    ''That mask looks familiar...''

    That is the weird mask that Ryoshu put on his face last time...

    ''Why did that commoner choose the highest difficulty?''

    ''Even I couldn''t do it at home.''

    ''Why?!''

    Then, in the first minute and a half, he misses all the targets.

    Many people made fun of him, making me feel good.

    But he didn''t give a shit about everything that was happening.

    He just kept focusing on his targets.

    ''Why is he still doing that?''

    ''Maybe he is an idiot, and also a deaf after all.''

    ''Nothing interesting.''

    I turned my back around and waved at someone looking at me.

    But suddenly, I felt something.

    But this time, the moment I turned around.

    Everything suddenly went slower as if I had entered the accelerated world.

    A beautiful trajectory flew in a straight line and hit the first target.

    But that''s not all.

    The arrow unexpectedly got stronger and faster by more than double its initial speed.

    It penetrated through all the targets in nearly 0.02 seconds.

    ''It''s so gorgeous...''

    I was staring at him with jealousy and indignation.

    ''How could he shoot a stunning arrow like that?''

    ''I want to defeat this guy.''

    At all costs.

    After that, I noticed him a lot more often.

    But I felt so angry and envious of him that I wanted to beat him so much.

    Especially while I was looking at him unintentionally before the opening ceremony even started, he looked at me with that filthy and disgusting face!

    I was so irritated that I could even kill him at that moment!

    But I couldn''t find him after the ceremony, I was a bit hungry and went to the cafeteria.

    And suddenly I found him, I should tease him about his confession to Charlotte.

    But... talking with him made me realize that...

    "By the way... about your best friend, Charlotte... I''m sorry."

    ''What is this guy trying to do?''

    "Sorry for what?"

    "For bothering her."

    "¡­"

    "I don''t like Charlotte anymore. That''s the truth, she is just a normal person to me from now on."

    After telling me that, he immediately went away.

    ''He is a rude and ugly person.''

    But perhaps he is not that bad?

    He expressed his feelings to her, and then she declined his proposal.

    ''He didn''t do anything like taking advantage of Charlotte or harming her.''

    ''If I confessed to Haruki and maybe got rejected, I would also really be sad too...''

    But Ryoshu has overcome his pain and has a really distinct personality.

    I didn''t know too much about him in the past.

    ''But he absolutely looked way better and shyer... than him at present.''

    Maybe he did change for the sake of his life.

    I still really don''t like him at all and I definitely want to defeat him in a match!

    But overall, that guy may not be as bad as I thought.

 Chapter 15: The First Ring

    (Day 9)

    5.31 A.M.

    Today is Saturday, August 26, 2023.

    There are 2 more days until the beginning of Arc 1.

    I also need to prepare more things to deal with that day.

    Yesterday I decided to practice Mana all day, and it finally got to F+.

    ----Potentials----

    [Mana] (F+) (!)

    Description: You are a beginner in using Mana

    -Mana Concentrating (Lv.2 ¡ú Lv.3)

    Efficiency (+7 ¡ú +10%)

    -Mana Transforming (Lv.2)

    Efficiency +4

    -Mana Infusing (Lv.2 ¡ú Lv.3)

    Efficiency (+2.5 ¡ú +4%)

    -Mana Maintaining (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2)

    Efficiency (+5% ¡ú +7%)

    ----------

    Even my [Basic Mana Core] trait has ranked up to F+ rank after 2 hours of patching up some of its gaps.

    But I''ve only fixed the biggest gaps, I''ll fix the rest gradually.

    ''But for the time being, it''s okay.''

    [Store: 11 (F-) ¡ú 13.2 (F).]

    "Fixing the mistake also increased more than I thought."

    [Mana: 40.5 ¡ú 41.6 (C-).]

    My mana should now be on par with those at the bottom of the school.

    But my physical stats are still very far from being matched with anyone in the combat department.

    Although I still have to practice more and train my body more, if I increase my Mana, my training speed will also increase faster.

    In addition, my [Intelligence] stat is steadily growing.

    [Intelligence 2.3 ¡ú 2.69 (Unranked).] (!)

    This will soon come to realm F as well.

    I went to the cafeteria early in the morning to have some breakfast.

    After eating, I went right to the teacher room.

    Spiral Academy''s rules are quite strict.

    If cadets want to leave the school campus for a short time, they must have proper permission from their homeroom teacher.

    ''Ah, my form teacher is Takagi Kenzo, the one who supervised my [Strength] test last time.''

    Opening the door of the room, I saw many teachers sitting and preparing lesson plans.

    I looked around for a while and saw someone asking.

    "Oh, what grade are you in?"

    "Yes, sir, I''m an A-class student."

    "That''s great! Just keep learning and growing, okay?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "And why are you wearing a mask¡­ do you have any health problems¡­?"

    ''Ah, I''m used to wearing a mask these days because I''m afraid of being criticized.''

    "Yes, it''s something like that¡­"

    "Okay¡­ then why did you come here so early."

    "I came to see my homeroom teacher."

    "Ah, Kenzo-sensei right?"

    The teacher pointed to the far end of the room and said to me:

    "Just go out there and you''ll be fine."

    "Yes, thank you, sir."

    "Nothing, nothing."

    I followed the direction the instructor pointed out.

    As I walked, I looked around here. This place is much larger and cleaner than my high school.

    ''Even though I only went to school for nearly a year, I stopped, but I was also the class president, so I went there quite a lot.''

    "Are you Amemura Ryoshu?"

    Oh, that is exactly the voice that I heard the other day.

    "I am Takagi Kenzo, the homeroom of Class A this year and of course for the next four years. Haha"

    "Good morning, sir,"

    "You did really well on the test, Amemura cadet."

    "I''m still really weak, sir."

    "It''s alright, practice makes perfect. And your accuracy is super good already so just keep working on it."

    "Thank you, sir."

    "So why did you come here?"

    "I''m coming here to get permission to leave school."

    "Oh, you have something to go outside? Here, let me write a permission letter for you."

    The teacher used Levitation Magic on 5 pens and wrote using all of them at the same time.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    In just a few seconds, the permission letter was done already.

    It proved that his ability to control Mana must be very high to do so.

    Not to mention he can also write quickly and beautifully with his Levitation Magic.

    He controlled the paper to fly onto his hand and he gave it to me:

    "Here you go."

    "Thank you."

    "Remember to come back early!"

    "Yes, sir."

    My goal today is to find the blood-sucking ring.

    A special ring capable of draining the user''s life point.

    Because I have a plan, of course.

    Then I''ll go explore the hidden dungeon to find the ring that heals the user continuously.

    When combining them, my vitality will continuously decrease and immediately refill at the same time, that way I won''t die but just feel kinda uncomfortable.

    In return, my [Endurance] will skyrocket!

    This stat will help me survive a lot longer since my body is very weak now. It can''t even stand a body slam of an E-rank slime right now.

    That''s the plan for this weekend.

    * *

    11.31 A.M.

    I went to the city cemetery.

    This is where I got the first ring I needed.

    ''The life-sucking ring will be in the grave with the name of Minamoto Hokori.''

    This is a message of gratitude to a person.

    In the online community, they also said that maybe it was a person who also founded the company and died of cancer.

    If that''s true then I also feel quite sorry, he is also rumored to be quite young but already has an incurable disease.

    I looked around and saw a lot of graves.

    Most of the graves here are full of people who died in the World War 3.

    ''Just like in the game.''

    ''Here is Minamoto Hokori''s grave.''

    They hid the ring right on his grave.

    But no one took it because no one else was here, to begin with.

    ''May I have the ring, please?''

    It is a ring filled with hatred and bloodlust - Vampire King''s Ring.

    There are many mysteries behind this ring Players could not answer yet.

    Although this sealed item had been discovered a long time ago, no one has unsealed it.

    ''I wonder if I can open the seal?''

    But first thing first, I will use this ring to grind my [Endurance] stat.

    ----Equipments----

    [Vampire King''s Ring] (?)

    Sealed.

    ----------

    ''I have the item now, let''s just go.''

    In my dorm room, I stored most of the ingredients or things I didn''t need, thus now my ring had a lot of extra space.

    I put the ring inside another ring... That''s trippy.

    I found my way back.

    Although the chance of being caught is quite low because few people are guarding the grave, I should still be more careful.

    It would be tiring if I were caught by the police right now...

    "Hey, who are you to come in here?!"

    ''Oh shit, I forgot about my shit luck¡­''

    The other police officers also heard it and came out to me.

    ''What should I do now?''

    ''Let''s run!''

    I started running.

    "Hey! Stop running!"

    "You thief!"

    Even though I ran a little ahead so I had a slight advantage, they still ran much faster than me.

    When they almost caught up, I quickly thought of another way.

    Look out at the road where traffic is moving.

    ''Here''s the chance. It''s kinda dangerous, but!"

    I forced my body to do parkour based on my old memories from my previous life.

    Now that my body is also considered much stronger than normal people''s. Thus, these actions feel much lighter to do.

    Thanks to that, the movements are quite easy to perform.

    I parkoured past cars running on the road. And the police could only look at me helplessly.

    [Thanks to performing Parkour movements with quite high perfection!]

    [Created technique "Parkour" (Apprentice).]

    ''That''s amazing!''

    I climbed over the fences and the post office.

    The other police officers who saw I was being chased and also ran after me.

    "Stop that guy!!"

    I turned around and saw that there must have been nearly a dozen people chasing me.

    But I was a bit careless so when a car passed by, I almost got hit.

    After running a while, I felt very tired.

    ''My [Stamina] was still terrible so I couldn''t completely cut them off.''

    ''At this rate, they will catch me really soon!''

    So I had to climb up the building right away.

    I climbed the stairs.

    ''They are probably running right after me.''

    I dumped potted plants on the road to create obstacles so they couldn''t catch up.

    But I didn''t expect that when I got to the top floor, there was no place to continue.

    And right after that, I was surrounded.

    "Hey stop!"

    "You are being cornered now!"

    "Don''t you dare run!"

    ''They ran a lot faster than I thought.''

    I had to jump over the tall building opposite.

    The building is really high and the gap is so large.

    ''I almost could feel my death already.''

    But like I was saying, I had no choice.

    Huff.

    I mustered all my courage to take a jump.

    My [Strength] is still really low so I could not land properly on the staircase.

    However, I still could catch the bar of the exit staircase.

    ''What a narrow escape from death.''

    My hands were trembling intensively.

    ''Wait, that sentence sounds familiar.''

    Huff.

    I used all my strength to jump over the bar.

    And I started running again.

    I thought while running upstairs.

    But it''s the same this time.

    As soon as I got to the rooftop, I was surrounded again.

    ''I didn''t expect the game to be so realistic.''

    In the game, I outran these guys very easily.

    Being surrounded on the rooftop like that left me with no other choice.

    ''I have to use the dart rope.''

    ''I noticed a while ago that I could use it to wrap around the pole flag that protrudes from the building.''

    ''I will use it to swing to another building.''

    But I also have a fear of heights.

    So every time I stand in high places, my body will tremble crazily.

    The police officers were pointing their guns at me and were forcing me closer and closer.

    "Don''t run!"

    "Surrender now and your crime will be very light!"

    "Don''t fight back."

    Even though I''m scared, I still have to deal with this.

    ''First, I have to get away from this place.''

    ''Appraisal.''

    ''Fortunately, their rank is still somewhere around my rank with the highest being F-.''

    I''ve prepared a pretty good plan.

    "Fear!"

    I activated the new function I discovered of the [Hidden Mask].

    The police officers suddenly froze.

    ''Now I have 2 seconds!''

    I ran straight behind them and pulled out the [Iron Dart Rope].

    I was running and swinging the dart rope to have enough momentum to throw to the pole flag.

    ''Charged Attack.''

    Running to the edge of the building, I gathered all my strength and courage to jump.

    The air was running past me while I was still swinging the dart rope.

    "Bullet Time!"

    While I was in free fall, I threw the dart rope using the [Aim Assisting] skill so that I could hook it properly to a flag protruding from a certain house.

    Once the rope was hooked, I grasped the chain and swung with it.

    Because I was quite high in the sky, when I was swinging a little closer, I bumped my foot into a truck on the street.

    I bent my legs all the way up.

    ''Damn, that was scary as hell.''

    The scene was scary, but there was also a part that was quite stimulating for me.

    As I was swinging up, I activated it again,

    "Bullet Time!"

    Then I retrieved the chain that was now also unfastened.

    I took advantage of the chain''s properties.

    So that when I was swinging, my weight would help the part of the chain above it press on the chain below that I had already wrapped around the pole flag.

    So when I was swinging up, I just needed to push the chain I was holding hard towards the hook, the upper chain would loosen and the chain below would also quickly release.

    After [Bullet Time] ended, I just needed to retrieve the chain by pulling the chain back.

    ''Then I''ll catch it with [Lightning Reflexes] and that''s it.''

    It''s a really easy plan...

    "But unfortunately, I can only use [Bullet Time] three times per hour."

    "So I couldn''t use this skill to swing through the city all day long."

    Then when I was free-falling, I was quite panicked.

    However, my SS+ rank [Alteration] helped me regain my composure and I threw the emergency escape ladder of another high-rise building again.

    But I forgot I would smash straight into that wall with this momentum.

    "Oh my god, I will definitely crush my bones again if I crash into the wall."

    "I have to do something!!!"

    And then my head bounced.

    I waited until my face was about to touch the wall.

    "Bullet Time!!"

    I let go, took out the bow from my ring, and got into an archery stance.

    But quickly after that, I put the bow in the ring again.

    And when [Bullet Time] ran out, I lightly touched the wall without the slightest injury.

    There is a bug called "Fall Damage Cancel" that causes falling damage from above to be canceled because I interrupted the charged attack animation.

    I could do all the above thanks mainly to my unusually high [Alteration] stat.

    Without it, I wouldn''t have been able to adapt quickly to a situation like this, and I wouldn''t have been able to think of a method to swing the chain, let alone do it.

    And even [Bullet Time] also had played a huge part, otherwise, I wouldn''t be able to do the above.

    ["Bullet Time" (Lv.1)

    Upon activation, the time will be slowed down by 5 times in 1 whole second.

    Usage: 3 times/hour. (0/3)]

    Even if I think about it, I couldn''t do it because when I was falling, I was very stressed.

    And I couldn''t remember about that fall damage cancellation bug.

    There was also a notification that I didn''t pay attention to because everything that just happened was so stressful.

    ''What is this?''

    [Achieve the initial potential of "Kinesthetic Awareness" (F-) through the process of using the body with high intensity and efficiency in a short time.]

 Chapter 16: Rookie Thief

    ''This is a pretty useless skill...''

    "I don''t think there''s much need to use it."

    However, I might be wrong because high memory and spatial awareness are good.

    But if my body can''t use it more effectively,

    Even if I shoot an archery or throw a ball, I won''t be able to hit it because my body won''t move as I want.

    ''I guess so.''

    Next are the four familiar notification lines...

    == [Detected an error!] ==

    == [Review: it can seriously affect the World!] ==

    == [Initiate the debugging process immediately!] ==

    == [The bug has been completely annihilated!] ==

    Yeah, another good bug has gone...

    ''With this pace, I will soon use up all my bugs.''

    ''I have to find an alternative to those problems soon.''

    [Your potential "The Art of Dart Rope" has ranked up to F]

    [Acquired skill "Return" (Lv.1).]

    Potential [The Art of Dart Rope] has ranked up!

    Along with that is a random skill.

    ''Return?''

    ''What a weird skill.''

    I will try when I come home.

    And there are a few more announcements.

    <You have interfered with the "General Storyline"!>

    <You will now be considered as a "Rookie Thief"!>

    <Acquired 15 System Exp.>

    "What the hell?"

    "So I''m a thief now?"

    <Role: Rookie Thief.>

    ''What to do now? Do I have to become a thief to get to CP?''

    ''This cheat is so bad.''

    I took off my mask to breathe easier.

    <Role: Esther''s Antagonist.>

    ''Huh?''

    ''What?''

    I put on my mask and,

    <Role: Rookie Thief.>

    ''Damn, I see, because Esther knows what I look like, she considers me an enemy.''

    ''But the police don''t know what my face looks like...''

    "So now I have two different roles!"

    "This is huge."

    ''Now I have 2 ways to farm CP!''

    ''I take my words back. This cheat is outstanding!''

    But I''ll need to change my mask if I want to continue stealing...

    Luckily, the police just saw me for the first time today, so there''s a high chance they don''t have any footage of me yet.

    Next time I have to go buy a new mask.

    ''But it''s a shame. I like this mask.''

    ''Let''s go home.''

    * *

    1.43 P.M.

    Back at the dorm, I lay face down on the bed because I was so tired.

    ''Forget it. I still have to go to the gym and try out new moves.''

    I changed my clothes and went to the gym to exercise a bit.

    ''Today is my first time going to the gym here.''

    ''Oh, and I forgot that I still have this quest.''

    [Secret Side Quest: Muscle Number One (2/?)

    -Content:

    30 push-ups (0/30)

    30 sit-ups (0/30)

    30 squats (0/30)

    3km run (3/3)

    -Rewards:

    [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion (D)]x3.

    ]

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ''Quest will appear on a daily basis and increase by 10 units for each, except for running, which increases by 1 km every day.''

    The quest will not increase forever but is capped at 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run.

    ''Sounds a bit familiar to me.''

    But this quest will appear every day for a year and a half. And next will be phase 2 of the quest.

    ''That''s also very familiar to me.''

    But whatever, the [Reward] is too good to ignore.

    ''I will drink this during practice.''

    While I was losing in thought for a while, I went to the gym.

    The school''s facilities are also quite good.

    It is like a normal gym for cadets who want to practice strength freely.

    And of course, there''s also the room that I rented a few times ago at the [Muscle Number One] gym.

    ''Hopefully, it costs the same.''

    I took out a bottle of D-rank [Main Stats'' Growth Boosting Potion] to drink and prepare to practice.

    Suddenly I met Haruki, Esther, and Charlotte, who were also practicing there.

    Sigh.

    ''I feel like I have to listen to the dog barking again.''

    I went in and ignored my surroundings.

    Now I will do 30 squats with dumbbells.

    Although it''s kinda difficult to carry weights, it will help my [Endurance] and [Strength] stat increase more rapidly.

    When I finished setting it up, I began squatting right away.

    ''1¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­''

    "He looks like he''s struggling a bit, doesn''t he?"

    That was Charlotte''s voice.

    "Should I go help him a bit?" - said Haruki.

    "What the hell is helping him? Although he has some technique, he is still very weak."

    ''Goddamnit, it''s that girl... again.''

    ''10¡­ 11¡­ 12¡­''

    "He should have trained his strength more before coming to this academy."

    "Calm down Esther-san."

    "I feel humiliated to have a member like that in our A class."

    ''Damn, why is she so annoyed about my existence?''

    ''I couldn''t know what she is thinking right now.''

    ''Yesterday, she just attempted to make a joke and now she is insulting me?''

    ''I don''t know if I have done something to her that she has to bite my head off like that.''

    ''Not to mention, you and I are probably not in the same class.''

    Because they will divide equally 500 students into five classes A, B, C, D, and E.

    So A class will have 100 students.

    Technically, we are all in class A, but they will later divide class A into 3 other classes: A-1, A-2, and A-3.

    Class 1 will have 34 students, the remaining two classes will have 33 students.

    But there will still be only one main homeroom teacher, which is Takagi Kenzo.

    However, there will be a few assistants working for him on some paperwork.

    And of course, Spiral Academy will filter by something called talent.

    Not the [Talent] in the [Status Bar] but the talent based on standards of school principal - Thomas Oliver.

    The main characters will be in class A-1 no matter what.

    But my fate is different.

    I am a variable in this world.

    ''Why don''t you two say anything?''

    ''Is it true that you can''t argue with it or feel apologetic?''

    ''Damn, both cases still hurt my ego.''

    <Esther''s Friendship -2>

    <The Host has been given 3 CP.>

    ''Silence is still a wonderful method for CP!''

    Well, anyway, I don''t care though, my dear CP farming machine.

    * *

    7.30 P.M.

    Later, Esther finally gave me back my peace.

    I practiced for more than 5 hours in a row.

    My body is exhausted.

    I could even see my hand and my feet trembling intensively.

    I went to buy bread and a bottle of milk at the gym.

    ''It''s so freaking convenient.''

    Just a while ago, I noticed that Katia, the beautiful princess of Russia, is also practicing here.

    ''She looks so gorgeous...''

    I ate while peeking at her.

    ''Damn, but if my [Charisma] is this low, I might get killed if I keep peeking like this.''

    [Charisma: 2.25 (Unranked).]

    Sigh.

    I threw the milk carton in the trash can next to it but it missed.

    ''I hope no one saw that scene just now...''

    ''That''s embarrassing as fuc-''

    ''I wish I had Levitation Magic like Kenzo''s homeroom.''

    Sigh.

    ''Return to me, you son of a bi-''

    The milk carton that was lying on the ground suddenly floated up and flew towards me.

    ''What the fuc-''

    ''When did I have Levitation Magic?!?''

    ''Wait a minute...''

    ''Is that my new skill?''

    ----Potential----

    [The Art of Dart Rope] (F)

    Description: You are a beginner in using Dart Rope.

    -Return (Lv.1)

    Upon active, the User will retrieve back the thing the User threw using Mana without losing its momentum.

    Restriction: Below 0.5kg.

    ----------

    ''This skill is quite versatile.''

    Although its returning speed is kinda slow, in the future it will be quick.

    ''And I will be able to retrieve really heavy things as a surprise attack!''

    But now, I should come back and hit the sack.

    ''I''m really exhausted today...''

    I lay down for a while but I couldn''t sleep because of what happened today.

    "Status Bar"

    -Main Stats (!)

    [Strength: 7.55 ¡ú 9 (Unranked) (!)

    Endurance: 8.3 ¡ú 9.46 (Unranked) (!)

    Agility: 6.969 ¡ú 8.28 (Unranked) (!)

    Perception: 10.17 ¡ú 10.53 (F-)] (!)

    ''Intensive training did help a lot.''

    But those are still nowhere near anyone in the combat department.

    The weakest one is already at F or F+ rank right now.

    But my rank is still at [Unranked].

    [Rank: Unranked (9.3175).]

    However, my growth is still faster than most students in this academy.

    In just two days, it has increased from 8.24725 to 9.3175.

    ''That''s over 0.5 stat points per day!''

    "But I still have to be faster in this cruel world."

    I remember how I used to swing on buildings like that.

    Just thinking about that makes my hands tremble, partly because of fear, and partly because of excitement.

    [Due to your excellent memory ability!]

    [Acquired skill "Recall" (Lv.1).]

    ''What is this?''

    * *

    10.51 P.M.

    I am currently writing in my diary.

    ''Hi Diary! I really miss you.''

    ''I have a lot of things to tell you today!

    ''Today, I met that guy again.''

    I think it was 6 o''clock in the morning.

    I met him while he was talking with a teacher in the teacher room.

    ''What is that guy doing?''

    I was really curious, so I opened the door just enough to eavesdrop on the conversation inside.

    Despite that, I couldn''t listen a lot.

    I looked around for a while and saw someone asking.

    "Oh, what grade are you in?" - said a teacher.

    "Yes, sir, I''m an A-class student."

    ''He is kinda polite, to be honest.''

    "That''s great! Just keep learning and growing, okay?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "And why are you wearing a mask¡­ do you have any health problems¡­?"

    ''Yeah, I am also kinda curious about that thing... And why is he wearing that weird mask all the time?''

    "Yes, it''s something like that..."

    ''Sounds so suspicious.''

    "Okay¡­ then why did you come here so early?"

    "I came to see my homeroom teacher."

    ''He means Takagi Kenzo? The most famous hero of Japan?''

    ''I think he also has a daughter too if I''m not wro-''

    "Ah, Kenzo-sensei right? Just go out there and you''ll be fine."

    "Yes, thank you, sir."

    "It''s nothing, really."

    Ryoshu walked away.

    I waited for a while.

    ''I guess I have to come in to check a bit.''

    The door suddenly opened.

    I used my Wind Magic to fly up to the ceiling.

    He looked around and scratched his head.

    But Ryoshu seemed to not realize anything and walked away noticing nothing.

    I saw him bringing a letter in his hand.

    ''Is that a letter?''

    ''Why a letter?''

    ''Everything about him is so suspicious.''

    ''Should I follow him?''

    "Um. What are you doing on the ceiling in front of the teacher room, Esther cadet?"

    Someone has noticed me. I was really shocked when I heard my name.

    I looked down and saw Takagi Kenzo looking at me.

    I floated down and apologized to him.

    "I''m sorry, sir."

    "No problem, but I''m asking what you were doing there."

    "Um¡­ Um¡­ I was eavesdropping on Ryoshu''s story..."

    "Amemura cadet? Why?"

    "Because he is really suspicious..."

    "That''s not a proper reason. Even if someone is suspicious, it''s your problem to begin with."

    "I''m really sorry, sir."

    ''Damn, I should not have followed him all the way here.''

    "It''s okay. Please don''t do that kind of action so publicly like that."

    "I will remember, sir."

    "Very good. Now go back and do your thing."

    "Goodbye, sir."

    "Goodbye Esther cadet."

    We both waved at each other.

    I walked back to my dorm and immediately fell on the bed again.

    Thinking about how embarrassing that my form teacher had seen me floating and eavesdropping on another cadet.

    ''Ah, I want a hole to open up beneath my feet right now...''

    ''I still really don''t like that guy at all!''

 Chapter 17: That Guy (2)

    * *

    11.11 P.M.

    "Your Majesty, another hidden Temple has been stolen in our country!!"

    The familiar servant, Oliver Blake, came to the living room with bad news.

    "Again?!"

    My dad was really frustrated upon hearing that news.

    Recently there has been someone who keeps stealing hidden Temples.

    Hidden Temples can only be done once, unlike public Temples-which can be done multiple times and have a cooldown between explorations.

    This is a really serious problem.

    A really serious problem indeed.

    Apparently, there is someone who has crucial information about the hidden Temple''s location and even how to finish the Temple challenge.

    "Your Highness, this action could be from the Divider..."

    I gave a really plausible reason.

    "Most likely."

    My dad said that with a very serious but calm face.

    "But where can they find that information? Who is the provider?"

    "Your Majesty, I don''t know."

    "This kind of information is like a one-in-a-million chance to find it by accident."

    "Your Majesty, I think... It could be that they had found... another Prophet..."

    "No, that''s just impossible. There are only 3 Prophets in the entire world."

    "Your Majesty, I know, but it''s the only likely answer to our problem."

    Prophet is a really rare occupation...

    No, really rare is still an understatement.

    ''They are one in a billion people.''

    They are one of the most unique individuals on the entire Earth.

    They have the ability to forecast the future of the Earth abstractly.

    The Government, along with the Magic Council and the Royal Family, have to protect them at all costs.

    "We have to-no, we must figure it out. Or else... It is going to be late."

    "Yes, Your Majesty." He said, bowing politely.

    "Oliver, go find more information about this right now."

    "It would be my privilege, your Majesty." Oliver knelt down and said.

    Then he immediately disappeared from the spot.

    "Sigh."

    "Your Highness, are you alright?"

    "Charlotte, call me Dad when we''re alone."

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    "But you are still a king of this country, so of course not, your Highness."

    He rolled his eyes and then mocked me.

    "How are you today, my daughter?"

    "I''m doing great, Your Highness."

    "Are we still playing YOUR game?"

    "Maybe."

    "Gotcha there."

    My dad is a bit childish compared to his status and power in this entire world. But he has to be serious, he will get the job done really responsibly.

    "Did you notice some weird guy today?"

    ''That''s a really weird question itself.''

    "No-"

    ''Wait...''

    ''Is Ryoshu these days a bit different compared to himself in the past?''

    Hmm. But maybe it''s because of me.

    I had accidentally shattered his warm heart.

    He was a really nice person.

    But I fell in love with Haruki first...

    Although sometimes I really hate his innocence... He''s just really dumb...

    He couldn''t notice my love for him even after all these years.

    ''Haruki is an idiot.''

    "Why are you suddenly staring at me hatefully like that..."

    "Huh? N-no, I didn''t."

    "Okay...? Do you have any problems?"

    "NO, I DON''T HAVE."

    "Ah, so it''s related to love, init?"

    "NOOOOO."

    I ran away immediately.

    * *

    She ran for a while now...

    ''Why has she not come back yet?''

    Sigh.

    "She grew up so fast..."

    "She used to be a really cute baby."

    "And now more than 17 years have passed, she is always trying not to talk with me."

    And then suddenly,

    "You are remembering the good old days again, right?"

    "Huh? Honey?"

    "Good evening, Your Highness."

    "Oh, come on, not you."

    "I''m just kidding. Have you finished your work yet?"

    "No, I haven''t... There is still a lot more problem about the new SS+ rank Temple."

    "I heard about that too."

    "Honey... Perhaps... I have to go there... by myself."

    "... Honey..."

    "I know. But if something happens, Eric should be ready to take my place."

    "But, honey, Charlotte and Alan still need you to grow up properly..."

    "I''m sorry... But I''m the only SS+ rank Hero that is available now. Our country needs me there..."

    ''And there is still no SSS rank Hero... But the Temple difficulty is increasing year by year...''

    ''Soon there will be even an SSS rank Temple...''

    Sigh.

    "What about me... honey... I still need you..."

    Her tears spilled from her eyes, tracing a glistening path down her flushed cheeks.

    She clutched her chest as if trying to hold herself together, but her trembling hands betrayed her vulnerability.

    Each tear seemed to carry the weight of a thousand unspoken words as if her soul poured out through her eyes.

    But I cannot ignore the situation out there.

    "The country''s fate is all on me now."

    "Sob." Her body shook intensively.

    "I''m really, really sorry."

    "Why are you apologizi-?"

    "Elena William."

    I said calmly with all my affection.

    "I will love you till the day I die."

    ''I don''t know why... But somehow, my eyes are having some kind of water right now.''

    I hugged her with my arms, trying to protect my loving wife.

    "Arthur..."

    * *

    11.14 P.M.

    "What the fuc-?!"

    "We''re sorry, sir!!"

    "You guys have only one FREAKING JOB!"

    "I''m sorry, sergeant! It''s my fault!"

    He is the most trustworthy and experienced patrolman in the police station.

    I didn''t even believe it at first.

    "Case!"

    "I''m really sorry, sergeant! It''s all my fault that we lost track of the thief!"

    Sigh.

    ''At least he tried his best.''

    "It''s alright, but have you guys found any single clue about that thief?"

    "He wore a really weird-looking mask!"

    "Yeah, yeah, and he is kinda agile too."

    "He can even climb the building!"

    "Sir, he can even use a chain to swing back and forth."

    Justin Case - the police officer who chased pretty close to Ryoshu - said:

    "Sir, I think he is a teenager."

    "Oh, why do you think so?"

    "His height and his inexperience made me think so."

    "Well done, Case. I know I can believe you."

    "It''s nothing, sir!"

    "That kid... must have magic or something like that."

    "I also think the same thing as you, sir!"

    ''This kid could be a homeless person from that slump... Perhaps I should ignore it for the time being.''

    "Sir, I think this is a really concerning problem. We have to report this to the headquarters."

    ''Justin is a fantastic patrolman.''

    "Why do you think so?"

    "This... is just my hunch."

    ''His hunch is almost always right.''

    And there is no harm in trying, right?

    "Alright, I will report this to the headquarters."

    * *

    12.00 A.M

    Good grief.

    This is a really exhausting day.

    And as always, people just look at me with bad intentions.

    ''It really bothers me.''

    But... There was also this specific one who kept looking at me.

    As I remember, he was the one who confessed unsuccessfully to Charlotte, right?

    And what is his name again?

    ''I really cannot remember unimportant things.''

    But why did he keep looking at me?

    I thought he was in love with Charlotte, right?

    So why?

    And he didn''t look at me with bad intentions either.

    So I really don''t know why he was looking at me.

    ...

    Should I ask directly?

    But... It will cause unnecessary misunderstanding too.

    ...

    Never mind, I will figure it out sooner or later.

    Let''s just have a sleep now.

 Chapter 18: Lich

    (Day 10)

    11.56 A.M.

    ''Here I am.''

    ''In another hidden temple.''

    This morning, I also woke up early and went to have a really quick breakfast.

    Next, I went to the teacher''s room to get permission from the homeroom teacher to go out again.

    At that time, teacher Kenzo looked quite puzzled and asked:

    "Do you need any help?"

    It was the first time someone asked me in this world...

    Of course, the legendary blacksmith - Enomoto Atsuta - also cares a little about my well-being.

    Even if it''s just a little.

    But this is the first time I have received such direct care.

    Somehow it made me feel very happy.

    "Thank you, teacher, but I don''t need it. Now I want to go out to practice more."

    I took the bus to go to some deserted forest and, of course, still wore a mask.

    I relied on my memory to get to this hidden Temple.

    Overcome the traps I know all too well, as this is one of the top must-visit places in the speedrun challenge.

    This dungeon''s rank is quite low - rank D - but it provides many important items.

    I will take advantage of some important items to prepare for the future.

    ''Let''s finish this temple fast and come back to the academy.''

    ''I kinda miss watching Katia''s face already...''

    ...

    ''Damn, I hate being a teenager again.''

    As soon as I entered the trial, I was warmly welcomed by a flock of Skeletons.

    Skeletons are basically skeletal beasts.

    However, most of them are human-like creatures.

    Fortunately, they don''t have any weapons, so this flock is pretty easy to fight.

    I just need to shoot the bow from afar.

    I know it''s dirty, but what could I do anyways?

    I''m so weak that I could be squashed really easily.

    ''Just a slight mistake would cost me my whole life.''

    I can take this chance to put my skills to the test too.

    Moreover, I could practice archery for a bit. When I run out of mana, I use string darts again. (Because it''s not effective on bones either)

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    However, I realized that my archery ability improved quite well.

    I don''t even need [Aim Assisting] anymore.

    I don''t know what I did differently than usual, but at the same time, I felt like my bow usage was raised to a new level.

    I don''t know anymore.

    I tried taking the stone and aiming at the skeleton head, and unexpectedly, it hit.

    I tried the fourth time and still got it, so I thought I had the ability to throw 100% of the time. I tried throwing with my eyes closed and it didn''t work.

    I tried throwing a rock from about 20 meters away and didn''t hit it, just barely missed it.

    Hmm... Why did I suddenly become this accurate?

    Maybe... This is the effect of [Kinesthetic Awareness].

    Because of this technique, I was able to work effectively with my nerdy body.

    ''I''m glad that I touched a lot of grass in real life.''

    But at first, I thought this skill was completely useless.

    ''My bad.''

    ''I think I need to raise this skill a lot more.''

    ''Damn, I need to sort out a priority task.''

    ''Really soon, to be honest.''

    * *

    Going a little deeper, there is a puzzle to arrange the teeth in order...

    I know it''s quite strange, but this puzzle is a piece of cake.

    There are also more traps here than usual.

    These are the thorns from the natural wall that suddenly appeared.

    But [Lightning Reflexes] and [Death Sense] make the puzzle so easy that I don''t need to remember any of it.

    I just need to be careful of other unexpected traps, like the floor of the room suddenly splitting in half and the bottom will have sharp spikes sticking up.

    Or the two sides of the natural stone wall are clamped together.

    Luckily I remember it quite well because this is where I often die in games...

    Walking a little further, I came across a herd of skeleton warriors.

    They are equipped with swords, and some of the higher levels wear some armor.

    I took the opportunity to learn a little more about the newly acquired skill [Return].

    And the part with losing momentum is the part I find the most interesting, but I need to try it.

    I threw rocks straight at the Skeletons. Instead of dodging, they raised their swords to slash.

    Before slashing them, I used [Return] to make them miss, then I turned it off.

    Instead of falling immediately, the stone continued to fly with the same force as before!

    It hit the Skeleton''s head straight, and it died.

    ''Maybe [Return] will suit my fighting style.''

    I continued to experiment with other small rocks.

    ''Hmm. I think I can use this skill with dart rope.''

    I threw the dart rope at the skeleton.

    But it missed the monster shamefully.

    ''I need to learn how to use this weapon more properly.''

    "Return!"

    It flew right back to me.

    And somehow hit bluntly at the Skeleton''s skull.

    The skull immediately shattered.

    ''Oh, so... the more Mana I put into this skill, the faster it will come back to me.''

    ''Kinda versatile, right?''

    ''I could even put things in like a time-stop mode.''

    [Your skill "Return" has leveled up to Lv.2]

    [Return (Lv.1 ¡ú Lv.2)

    Upon active, the User will retrieve back the thing the User threw using Mana without losing its momentum.

    Restriction: Below 3kg.]

    An arrow flew right at my head, but I saw it and dodged it in a flash.

    ''Damnit, that was so close.''

    ''Why did my [Death Sense] not work?''

    I charged the arrow and shot right back at the skeletal archer.

    ''Tit for tat, you son of a gun.''

    "My [Return] has leveled up, huh?"

    ''3 kg?''

    ''Hmm...''

    "Hey... I actually have a new idea..."

    "I will try it on the boss."

    * *

    Enter a fairly large cave. Perhaps this is the boss fight arena.

    I breathed in and out slowly to maintain my calm.

    ''I will win, no matter what.''

    A Lich appeared.

    Because of this Temple ranks D so its rank is also at D-rank only.

    Although this one has one level lower than that electric slime, the Skeleton race is much stronger than a mere slime.

    And Lich is a skeleton species that is much stronger than normal skeletons.

    Not to mention I don''t have the same elemental advantage as last time.

    So this time the match will be very different from the previous match.

    It''s a Lich, so it will definitely be proficient in many different spells, but they will usually be extremely strong in ice magic and lightning magic.

    And in particular, some of them also have a very special ability: necromancy.

    This species is the scariest because the necromancy ability is one of the skills that looks weak but is among the most dangerous in the world.

    As soon as I entered its territory, a block of ice suddenly appeared right before my eyes, signaling a difficult battle ahead.

    Damn, my eyes were nearly being stabbed to blind.

    Sigh.

    ''This may not be as easy as I thought.''

    ''Ah shit, here we go again.''

    ''Hey, that sounds familiar... no?''

 Stealth Attack

    The opponent this time is certainly much more difficult.

    At first, I shot the bow, but the arrow never reached it.

    Meanwhile, the Lich continuously spammed [Ice Ball] because it has a tremendous amount of Mana.

    I dodged his ice balls but if I continued like this, I would waste a lot of energy unnecessarily.

    ''Let''s try this.''

    I shot an arrow directly at its face.

    It dodged aside easily.

    The arrow bounced off the stone wall and was about to fall to the ground when,

    ''This is the opportunity.''

    "RETURN!"

    I put a lot of Mana into my new skill.

    The arrow flew towards me quickly.

    Or rather... towards the Lich''s position!

    Shunk!

    The arrow went straight into its skeletal head.

    Several pieces of bone fell from its body.

    The arrow fell off and exposed its skull.

    Even though it didn''t show any signs or facial expressions, I could still feel its anger.

    The Lich''s Mana began to surround its body.

    Its wounds instantly recovered.

    Yeah, this is another feature that I hate about undead monsters.

    ''Maybe I just did something I shouldn''t have done.''

    Sigh.

    And then a bunch of [Ice Spears] appeared out of nowhere and flew straight towards me.

    ''Damnit!''

    I flipped behind a rock.

    ''I knew it would be aggressive!''

    ''But not THIS aggressive!''

    Hiding behind a rock is really good.

    In most cases.

    But in this situation, it''s useless.

    An ice spear stabbed straight through the rock I was hiding.

    ''I''m not alright at all!''

    For a moment, my [Death Sense] activated.

    Everything around me started to slow down.

    The sound of the [Ice Spear] also became slower.

    But I can''t do anything either.

    Time returns quickly.

    I could feel a sharp and very cold object stabbed straight through my body.

    Huff.

    A large piece of flesh on my side was punctured and a lot of blood splattered out.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I was then thrown forward with great force.

    But the pain was just so great that I could not even breathe.

    I rolled on the ground and hit hard at another rock.

    ''Some of my bones are broken...''

    Before I could review the situation, two more spears rushed straight at me.

    But my legs are frozen so I can''t do anything.

    I took out the sword I had just picked up, simultaneously activating both skills for a brief moment.

    "Aim Assisting."

    "Stab."

    I took out the sword from the ring and slashed straight at the spear closest to me.

    Slash.

    ["Critical Hit" has happened.]

    [Due to the talent "Weakness Detection", "Critical Damage" increased by half.]

    The other spear has also been affected and flung away.

    ''This sword is not the best. But it''s still better than nothing.''

    ''Hm... I have... another plan.''

    I put the sword away and took out the bow.

    ''Charged Attack.''

    My wounds began burning my body.

    Huff.

    Huff.

    ''I must kill this fucker!''

    Seeing that, the monster rushed straight towards me.

    But I ignored it and kept charging.

    It rushed closer and closer to me.

    I had been waiting for that moment forever.

    ''Deactivate [Return]!''

    Suddenly, a dart knife rushed straight from the door.

    It flew so fast that the Lich couldn''t do anything.

    The tip of the knife stabbed straight into Lich''s body.

    Its ribs shattered.

    But the dart didn''t stop and continued to pass through the Lich.

    It was about to recover again when,

    Schunk!

    I took out the sword again while it was recovering.

    That''s a very interesting thing about [Charged Attack] that it''s different from the game.

    ''I just found out about this!''

    [Charged Attack] in the game will be interrupted if you change weapons or are attacked by enemies.

    But here it''s different.

    As long as I''m holding a weapon, [Charged Attack] will continue to proceed.

    And because I switched from bow to sword without removing my hand once, [Charged Attack] instead of being deactivated, was transferred to the sword immediately.

    ''I wonder if this skill has any other differences or applications that are different from the game?''

    And at the same time activated the only move I had since coming to this world.

    "Stab!"

    I stabbed straight into its skull.

    Combined with a fully charged attack, the damage will be increased by about one-fifth of its original power.

    But even so, the power is still too weak.

    Therefore, it still couldn''t completely penetrate its skull, so I had to stick the Lich straight into the ground so it couldn''t run away anymore.

    "Return!"

    I called back the knife dart that was sticking straight into the rather heavy stone.

    But as long as it''s under 3kg,

    The throwing knife returned to my hand with a large amount of power.

    Now the knife part has turned into a DIY hammer.

    Not letting this opportunity go to waste, I took advantage of the momentum to add more force to my power.

    "Hidden!"

    This move will make me invisible.

    Even though it says erasing a part of existence, I still don''t really understand its meaning.

    But whatever!

    Since the opponent can''t see me, my attack will become "Stealth Attack"!

    [-Watch Out!

    Increase 10% "Critical Rate" when you are doing a "Stealth Attack"...]

    And this is what I need the most right now.

    ''A 10% increase when performing a "Stealth Attack"!''

    "Aim Assisting!"

    ''My [Critical Rate] is now around 50%!''

    And then I slammed down the sword that was stuck into the Lich''s body.

    But after that, there was no effect at all.

    The sword sank deeper and pierced the Lich''s inner core.

    The Lich disappeared into nothingness.

    Sigh.

    ''If it ended with a Critical Hit, it would be so much nicer.''

    Sigh.

    Unfortunately, 50% is not enough.

    But anyway, I beat it.

    A [Reward Chest] appeared from where the boss disappeared.

    ----Reward Chest----

    [Intelligence Boost Potion (D)], [Skill Book (Swordsmanship: Slash].

    --------

    ''Nice, a new skill for my potential [Swordsmanship].''

    ''Even though I mainly use a bow, I cannot be picky now.''

    [-Slash (Lv.1)

    When active, the first slash consumes "Stamina" and increases the "Attack Speed" of the User by 2.5% in 2 seconds.]

    "[Attack Speed], huh? So it will affect the speed of my attack."

    "It will help with my swordsmanship a lot too."

    "Moreover, I can shoot an arrow faster now."

    I consumed it right away... No, it''s more like I read the book and I absorb the skill.

    ''But this is just the beginning of my adventure today.''

    "And it''s very hard already."

    I went around this cave a bit and tried to find the hidden way.

    Click.

    I suddenly pressed a button, and it immediately activated the mechanic.

    A door suddenly rose from the ground and appeared right in front of me.

    This could be considered the first door you can bump into in the game.

    The Door is just like a portal, but it has the shape of a door.

    It plays a role as the two-way portal connecting two different dimensions.

    I gotta be honest with myself: I hate the Door.

    Every time I saw it in the game, I freaked out.

    It''s just a nightmare to see it in real life like this.

    Restlessness consumed me, and I couldn''t help but tap my fingers incessantly against my palm.

    This is a really bad habit of mine.

    ''My girlfriend was always mocking me when I did this.''

    ''Haha. I guessed she was right too.''

    My mind raced, a whirlwind of concerns and uncertainties that refused to step into the portal.

    Each passing moment seemed to amplify my apprehension as if the weight of the world rested upon my shoulders.

    But I simply had no choice.

    I opened the door.

    A deadly aura which could easily kill my courage emitted from the Door.

    However, I mustered up all my courage again and then stepped inside.